CARSTENS, J.D. 2021. BUILDING A COMPREHENSIVE PLANT COLLECTION. ARNOLDIA, 78(3): 2-4 
Building a Comprehensive Plant Collection 
Jeffrey D. Carstens 
uilding a germplasm collection can take 
years or, more realistically, even multiple 
careers to assemble. The United States 
National Plant Germplasm System has nine- 
teen stations around the country, and the goal 
is to acquire, conserve, evaluate, and distribute 
genetically diverse plant material. As a gene- 
bank curator at the North Central Regional 
Plant Introduction Station in Ames, Iowa, I’m 
responsible for managing collections of woody 
plants like ashes (Fraxinus) and chokeberries 
(Aronia), and also herbaceous plants. The col- 
lections arise from plant exploration by staff 
members (I typically make at least five col- 
lection trips per year), through exchange with 
other genebanks or public gardens, or by spe- 
cific arrangements between a curator and an 
independent collector. The latter became more 
important than ever in 2020, as the coronavirus 
pandemic restrictions prevented normal travel. 
One of our most notable collections from 
this unusual season occurred in the mountains 
of northeastern Tennessee. The story, however, 
began in June of 2018, when I sent an email to 
Roger McCoy, the director of the Tennessee 
Division of Natural Areas, looking for con- 
tacts in eastern Tennessee who might be able 
and willing to collect native Monarda species. 
Monarda, or the bee balms, is a group of her- 
baceous plants native to North America and 
Mexico and is represented by approximately 
eighteen species. Our Monarda germplasm 
collection in Ames currently includes four- 
teen species, represented by 164 accessions. 
In the last couple of years, we’ve acquired 
interesting samples, including three species 
that were first described by botanists within 
the past decade: M. Juteola, found in north- 
eastern Texas and southwestern Arkansas; M. 
austroappalachiana, endemic to the Southern 
Appalachians; and M. brevis, a dwarf, early- 
flowering species found in West Virginia and 
historically in Virginia. 
McCoy connected me with Marty Silver, a 
park ranger at Warriors’ Path State Park, who 
graciously volunteered to help. Silver stated 
he had “limited botanical skills” and was sim- 
ply an “interested amateur botanist spending 
spare time in the field in various wild places 
in Tennessee.” To ensure initial success, we 
selected Monarda didyma as the target from 
eastern Tennessee, since we had no holdings 
of the species from the region. The species also 
displays very conspicuous red flowers from 
July through August and is somewhat ubiqui- 
tous in the target area. This would make the 
plants relatively easy to locate. By the end of 
August 2018, Silver had documented several 
flowering patches of M. didyma, and that fall, 
he returned and successfully collected seed 
(accession Ames 34356). Despite living approx- 
imately an hour away from the sampling site, 
Silver conducted this travel and exploration on 
a volunteer basis. 
As Silver and I communicated after the 2018 
collection, he drew my attention to a very 
thorough floristic survey of the nearby Rocky 
Fork Tract, written by Foster Levy and Elaine 
Walker, published in 2016. Silver connected me 
with Levy, who brought our attention to several 
Monarda specimens from the area that were 
labeled M. x media, a taxon that was missing 
within our germplasm collection. We desig- 
nated this hybrid as our next target. 
Monarda x media is of potential interest for 
development as an ornamental landscape plant. 
Moreover, when I reviewed the published litera- 
ture and herbarium specimens, I found a curious 
backstory for the taxon, suggesting that well- 
documented wild collections could also support 
taxonomic research. The taxon was described 
over two hundred years ago, in 1809, by the 
German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow, who 
published the name without the multiplication 
symbol. The symbol is used to indicate plants 
of hybrid origin, although it is not required in 
Facing page: Collaboration is key for developing a plant germplasm collection. A recent seed 
collection of Monarda x media in northeastern Tennessee is a case in point. 
PLANT PHOTOS BY MARTY SILVER; SEEDS BY ASHLEY SONNER, USDA ARS NCRPIS 
