Joining in with other recent Missouri moves to trade with Chinese entities, the Missouri Botanical Garden has announced that it has established a Missouri-China relationship of its own.
Plant diversity is the focus of the Garden's Memorandum of Understanding with three Chinese botanical institutions: Nanjing Botanical Garden, Lushan Botanical Garden and Guangxi Institute of Botany.
“Agreements such as these are frequently undertaken to explore a mutual, shared scientific challenge," said Peter Wyse Jackson, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden. " In this case, each of our institutions are keenly aware of the current threats to our respective floras, and through these agreements we seek to work jointly in documenting the plants found in our areas of interest, study the effects of climate variation on the ecosystems and promote our respective scientific efforts through collaborations."
The Garden says that the memorandum, signed by officials of all of the involved parties on Oct. 28, includes not only data and informational exchange but also exchanges of personnel and specimens.