| Separate ‘Botanical files’ have been made for 42 species of cultivated plants. Each file gives information about the cultivated plant itself (use, origin, etc.), its wild relatives in the Netherlands, a report on actual hybridization and/or crossing (indicating gene flow by pollen), and observations on escapes from the field to nature (indicating gene flow by diaspores); the information is summarized to a conclusion and a numerical code, indicating the possible ecological effects of the cultivated plant on the wild flora of the Netherlands. This study was especially undertaken for questions regarding biosafety research on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s). The sources are the herbarium collections of the State Herbarium at Leiden, floristic archives... |
