2018 ASHS Annual Conference

The United States has a rich history of plant collection. As emigrants came to this country, they transported familiar plants with them. During the 1700’s, merchants, naval officers, and government officials imported plant material. Wealthy collectors also sponsored expeditions for exotic plant species. In 1728, John Bartram purchased land in Pennsylvania and began collecting North American plants for his private garden and nursery business. It was not until 1858 that federal funds provided by the U.S. Commissioner of Patents were used for the collection of tea by Robert Fortune in China. With the creation of the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction in 1898, plant explorers were sent to remote areas of the world to search for useful germplasm that would survive harsh climatic and edaphic conditions in the United States. In spite of life-threatening hardships endured during these expeditions, David Fairchild, Niles Hansen, Walter Swingle, and Frank Meyer collected many progenitors of the commercial fruit and nut cultivars grown today in North America.