Scientists from the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum visited Standing Cedars Buffalo Skull site
to collect the seeds of one of Wisconsin’s threatened plants, Besseya bullii, commonly known as
kittentails.
According to the Wisconsin DNR, kittentails is typically found in small woodland openings or near bluff edges. The small yellow flowers bloom on a spike from late May through late June, and fruit from late June through late August.
“Kittentails grow only in the Upper Midwest and are threatened or endangered throughout this range,” said Standing Cedars board member Ryan Rodgers. “Here along the St. Croix is a stronghold for them, and Standing Cedars has a couple large patches that we put a good deal of effort into maintaining.”
Rodgers noted that prior to gathering the seeds, the two scientists obtained permits from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Standing Cedars.
The man behind the seed-saving effort is David Remucal, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s curator of endangered plants.
“The arboretum is collecting seeds from a number of rare plants to create a seed bank,” Rodgers explained. “They also plan to grow the rare plants, and maintain populations to produce fresh seeds.”
Scientists at the arboretum and other botanic gardens have partnered through the Center for Plant Conservation to preserve about seven plant species, Remucal told Rodgers. They are collecting seeds beyond Minnesota’s borders for the sake of genetic diversity.
Another branch of the seed-saving mission, collecting the seeds of Minnesota’s native orchids, was featured on Minnesota Public Radio last fall. Although it is part of the broader preservation project, kittentails is not an orchid species.
In correspondence with Rodgers, Remucal explained that he and his partner would collect a diverse genetic sample of kittentails at Buffalo Skull while making sure their seed harvest wouldn’t compromise the species’ continued reproduction.
“The numbers and percentages we have settled on are based on research into the genetics of populations,” he wrote. “For any size population, once you’ve sampled seed from about 50 individuals you have reached a high statistical probability of having captured something like 90 or 95 percent of a population’s total genetic diversity. … As far as the percentage of seed collected, collecting 50 percent of a population’s available seed is seen as likely having a detrimental effect on a population and shouldn’t be done; collecting at 10 percent is seen as having no measurable effect on a population so could theoretically be done continually. We have aimed for the middle, collecting around 20-30 percent of seed from a population so that we could collect at a low-impact level, but complete our collecting in a couple of year’s worth of work.”
The goal is to establish stronghold populations and eventually to offer the banked seeds or plants for restoration projects on protected lands.
“We are already participating in some rescue transplant projects,” Remucal told Rodgers, “but it’s a long process to build the infrastructure to be able to really take on multiple projects.”
By Suzanne Lindgren editor@osceolasun.com, The Sun. Originally published July 17, 2017.
