This week, I’m speaking with Dr Sandy Primrose about his brilliant book Modern Plant Hunters, which tells the stories of plant hunting in more recent times; who’s doing it, why and what are they looking for. Find out about the challenges plant hunters past and present have faced, whether you can do it in somewhere like the UK and the kind of qualities and personal traits you might need if you want to start - spoiler, it’s not for the faint-hearted!

Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Mosquitoes

Thanks to Betakut for sponsoring this episode - visit https://www.betakut.co.uk/shop to find out more - enter the code ROOTS20 to get 20% off until the end of August.

What we cover

Why do people go on plant hunting expeditions in this day and age?

Some of the difficulties they face

The prominent plant hunters today

The CITES treaty and the Nagoya protocol

The extent to which politics, funding issues, international relations etc have interfered with the work of plant hunters

Plant hunting in the UK

Advice for anyone interested in plant hunting

About Dr Sandy Primrose

Dr Sandy Primrose MBE PhD has spent his professional life as a biologist in academia and industry, as well as working with various government agencies on food fraud and related topics. He is a keen gardener and passionate teacher and lectures extensively on plant-related topics. - https://olympiapublishers.com/authors/sandy-primrose/

Links

Modern Plant Hunters by Dr Sandy Primrose - Pimpernel Press Ltd.