美国本土植物保育组织 Native Plant Trust — 保护新英格兰本土植物的生存

创立背景与历史沿革

Native Plant Trust 最早的名字是 Society for the Protection of Native Plants，1900 年由一群植物学者在新英格兰地区组建，是美国本土植物保育这件事最早一批专门的民间团体。1931 年，园艺家 Will C. Curtis 在麻州弗拉明汉买下一片林地，建起一座野生花卉专类园；1965 年他去世后，这片园地捐给了当时的 New England Wild Flower Society，便是今天的 Garden in the Woods。2020 年前后，协会经过讨论，把名称改作 Native Plant Trust，沿用至今。机构总部位于麻州 Wayland 市郊，邮寄地址见协会主页底部，IRS 注册号 04-2104768。

核心使命与保育目标

机构的根本目标是让新英格兰本土植物在这块土地上继续生存下去。「本土」指的是美国东北部六个州：康涅狄格、缅因、马萨诸塞、新罕布什尔、罗德岛、佛蒙特，以及部分邻近区域。机构按照联合国《全球植物保护战略》的国际目标，针对这一区域开展普查、种子采集与种群恢复。State of the Plants 报告统计，新英格兰大约 17% 的本土植物物种处在濒临灭绝边缘，另外 5% 已经从野外消失。Seed Ark 长期计划正在推进，目标是在区域范围内采集和保存 388 种稀有植物的种子。

Garden in the Woods 与 Nasami Farm

Garden in the Woods 是机构的旗舰展示园，坐落在麻州弗拉明汉一片橡树林地里，面积 45 英亩，种着 1700 多个植物类群、约 1000 个物种，其中包含 200 多种本土的珍稀或受威胁种类；每年 4 月中旬到 10 月中旬对公众开放，也是各类教学课和志愿者培训的主要场所。Nasami Farm 是机构的苗圃基地，位于麻州西部康涅狄格河谷的一片 75 英亩农地上，主营本土植物的繁殖和销售；它既是园子，也是学习场所，给园艺爱好者提供植物分类、本土植物识别、园艺设计等课程，并承担 Garden in the Woods 植物库存的补种任务。

Go Botany 数字植物检索与公众参与

Go Botany 是机构联合美国国家科学基金会开发的在线植物检索平台，可在机构主页查询。平台提供两套路径：一套给初学者，按花色、叶形这类容易看出的特征一步步选；另一套给进阶用户，使用植物学术语。两条路径都指向物种档案，写明植物的形态、生境、分布范围和本地区原生情况。PlantShare 是平台的另一核心板块，一个面向公众的植物观察共享系统，注册用户可以上传照片、标注地图位置、向平台驻场植物学家提问，本质是分布式的公民科学项目，机构的研究者会从社区提交的数据里挑出重要分布记录，用于修订保育名单。

园艺培训、志愿保育与公众活动

机构常年开课程，方向涵盖植物学基础、本土植物园艺、园艺设计、苗圃操作技术、种子采集与储藏等，多数在 Garden in the Woods 和 Nasami 两处现场授课；学员学完后可以申请做 Conservation Corps 志愿者，跟着专家到野外做种群调查、种子采集、生境恢复。对外的公众活动一年里有多场，包括季节性开放日、家庭种植工作坊、植物识别散步、年度园艺讲座。Nasami 苗圃在春末夏初向公众出售种苗，订单通过主页的 Buy Native Plants 提交，邮寄覆盖新英格兰六州；机构约六成运营资金来自会员和私人捐赠，三成来自苗圃和课程收入。

Founding and Name Changes

The organization was founded in 1900 in New England as the Society for the Protection of Native Plants, the first U.S. civic group dedicated to native plant conservation. In 1931 horticulturist Will C. Curtis bought land in North Framingham, Massachusetts, and started a botanical garden; he deeded the property to the New England Wild Flower Society when he died in 1965. After running under that name for most of a century, the board voted in 2020 to rename it Native Plant Trust. The trust is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Wayland, Massachusetts, mail address listed on the organization homepage, IRS tax ID 04-2104768.

Conservation Mission and the Seed Ark

The trust works under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Global Strategy for Plant Conservation applied to the six New England states. Surveys for the State of the Plants report found about 17 percent of native plant species on the brink of regional extinction and another 5 percent already gone from the wild. The Seed Ark campaign targets collection and cold storage of seeds of 388 regionally rare species before they vanish locally. A 500,000 dollar challenge grant from the Hope Goddard Iselin Foundation launched the 5 million dollar Seed Ark effort.

Garden in the Woods and Nasami Farm

Garden in the Woods covers 45 acres of oak forest in Framingham, Massachusetts, holding 1,700 plant kinds, around 1,000 species, and over 200 rare or endangered natives; the site is open mid-April through mid-October and includes the trust’s largest retail native plant nursery. Nasami Farm is the propagation nursery in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, set on 75 acres of farmland. It grows containerized natives for gardeners across New England and supplies propagation stock for Garden in the Woods, with an on-site classroom that hosts most of the trust’s horticultural training.

Go Botany and Public Plant Identification

Go Botany is the trust’s online plant identification platform, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and offering a basic key for beginners driven by color and leaf shape, plus an advanced key using detailed morphological terminology. Both paths lead to species pages covering habitat, range, conservation status, and whether the plant is native to the user’s region. PlantShare is the citizen-science observation system on the same platform. Registered users upload geotagged photos, build species lists, and post questions answered by staff botanists; submitted observations feed back into the trust’s distribution records.

Education, Volunteer Programs, and Membership

The trust runs a year-round catalog of classes in native plant botany, horticulture, landscape design, seed collection, and nursery production, mostly taught by staff horticulturists at Garden in the Woods and Nasami Farm. After training, members can join the Conservation Corps, a volunteer network doing field surveys, seed collection, and habitat restoration work across the region. Public events through the year include seasonal open days, family planting workshops, plant identification walks, and an annual horticulture lecture. The retail nursery opens for native plant orders each spring, with shipping across New England. Membership and individual donations cover most of the operating budget, with the rest from class tuition and plant sales.

相关文章：

美国 新英格兰原生植物协会 Native Plant Trust – 行业自律与服务组织 美国 新英格兰本土植物信托 – 全美最大规模的本土植物种子库之一 美国华盛顿州Chimacum Woods原生杜鹃保护苗圃 – 美国濒危杜鹃保护跨地理平台 美国 蟾蜍阴影野花苗圃 – 种苗生产与销售 美国 The Plant Native 本土植物园艺指南 – 已经适应了你所在地 英国 HPS 耐寒植物协会 – 英国本土具代表性的耐寒园艺植物科普与保护组织 美国 Tripple Brook Farm – 马萨诸塞州永续农业耐寒植物苗圃 美国 罗德岛野生植物协会 – 致力于保护与研究罗德岛本土植物及其栖息地