The Scientific Department of the Marimurtra Botanical Garden recently travelled to Mallorca with the aim of obtaining new traceable native plants to enrich the Garden’s collections within the framework of the new Collections Plan.
The island flora collection is currently undergoing a process of redefinition and remodelling, and work is being scheduled to ensure that the new specimens can be introduced into the Garden during autumn, the ideal season for planting and optimal development. To make this possible, collaboration between scientific and botanical institutions is essential.
Visit to the Sóller Botanical Garden (MUCBO) and partnership with the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB)
During their stay on the island, the team visited their colleagues at MUCBO (Fundació Jardí Botànic de Sóller – Museu Balear de Ciències Naturals), with which a collaboration agreement has been established between the two botanical gardens to exchange knowledge, experience and plant material of conservation value, as well as to explore possible joint research projects in the future.
The institution’s director general, Daniel Gallego, and the Garden’s curator, Magdalena Vicens, welcomed the Marimurtra team. Dr Maurici Mus, a trustee of the Sóller Botanical Garden and Vice-Rector for Postgraduate Studies Policy and Lifelong Learning at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB), was also present. A collaboration agreement with the UIB is also being arranged with the aim of developing joint scientific research projects.
Native, traceable plants at the Forestry Centre of the Balearic Islands (CEFOR)
Taking advantage of the scientific expedition, the team also travelled to the Centre Forestal de les Illes Balears (CEFOR – Menut), located in Escorca, in the Serra de Tramuntana. This centre is a leading institution in the conservation of forest diversity and the production of native Balearic plants.
This visit made it possible to obtain native plants with guaranteed traceability, an essential requirement for the scientific management of a botanical garden, as it makes it possible to determine precisely the origin of the seed or plant material, its genetics and the wild population from which it comes. In addition, the Garden received a donated specimen of an endemic and critically endangered species (Helosciadium bermejoi) for its establishment, propagation and conservation at Marimurtra.
Towards a renewed island flora collection
All the plants obtained during this trip will be cared for and prepared by the technical team over the coming weeks so that they are ready to be planted in the Garden when temperatures fall and the autumn rains arrive.
This expedition strengthens Marimurtra’s network of scientific collaboration with the Balearic Islands and represents a significant step forward in the remodelling and continuous improvement of our island flora, always guided by criteria of scientific rigour, traceability and the conservation of Mediterranean biodiversity.
