Sow What!?! Why Wild Plant Seed Research Matters.

Seed are perhaps the most important biological unit for plant restoration and conservation programs. Yet a substantial knowledge gap regarding the seed biology of wild species often stifles efforts to conserve genetic resources and restore landscapes. This presentation focuses on development of a research program aimed at bridging the wild plant-seed biology divide. It explores the needs of conservation practitioners and an emerging wildflower seed industry, the lunacy of establishing an academic research program in a resource-limited area of study, and tension between the gratification of discovery and frustration of working with wild plants. I will share research highlights from our work on seeds of tropical palms to warm temperate wildflowers and explain how these efforts straddle fundamental to applied questions that enhance plant conservation.