The Japan Hotspot

We have arrived in Japan for the second of our seed collection trips as part of the Japan Hotspot Project. Over the course of the next four weeks we will travel across central Honshu, visiting the University of Tokyo Forests of Chiba and Chichibu, Mount Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture and finally collection sites in Toyama Prefecture.

Once again we shall be conducting Rapid Botanical Surveys to support ongoing Biodiversity Hotspot research at the Department of Plant Sciences Oxford, collecting seed for ex situ conservation in collaboration with partners in both Japan and the UK and collecting supporting herbarium vouchers to be accessioned into the University of Oxford Herbaria.

We will update the blog each week, but you can also follow our progress on Facebook or via Twitter.

Tom Price (Gardens Curator) & Ben Jones (Arboretum Curator).