by Ken Levine
The data base of our botanical garden’s plant collection is available to all other botanical gardens and arboreta. For this reason, when the Hoban Laboratory at the 1700 acre Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois needed frozen leaves of Quercus tomentella trees (Channel Island Oak) they contacted us. In July of this year, we sent them leaves from 5 Quercus tomentella trees. These leaves were taken from the single tree in the Display Garden, and 4 trees in the Oak Grove above the Oak Glen Pavilion. The laboratory is doing genetic studies on rare North American Oaks. Quercus tomentella is only native to the Channel Islands off the California coast, and Guadalupe Island off the Baja California Coast. Losses of trees on these Islands as well as their limited range has led to them being considered rare. Their genetic studies will compare the genetic makeup of natural occurring groves, and trees in botanical Gardens and arboreta.
