[Taxacom] Test plants needed for Tanacetum vulgare biological control project

[Adolf Ceska]

Dear Taxacomers,

I am posting this appeal for help from Dr. Alec McClay.

Please answer to him directly at alec.mcclay at shaw.ca or
biocontrol at mcclay-ecoscience.com 

Thanks,

Adolf Ceska, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
    

Test plants needed for biological control project on common tansy.
 
A project to test possible biological control agents for common tansy
(Tanacetum vulgare) has been started, with funding from a number of Canadian
and US sources, coordinated through the Alberta Invasive Plants Council and
the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Scientists at the CABI laboratory
in Delémont, Switzerland, are studying the biology and host-specificity of a
number of insects that may have potential as biological control agents
against this invasive plant in Canada and the northern USA. 
 
As part of this project, we need to grow a number of plants (mostly
Asteraceae) to test the host-specificity of these potential biological
control agents. We have already found most of these, but a few species are
proving harder to track down. If any readers of BEN can help find seeds or
propagation material of any of these species, please contact Alec McClay at
biocontrol at mcclay-ecoscience.com:
 
Tanacetum bipinnatum (L.) Schultz-Bip. ssp. bipinnatum (Alaska, Yukon)
Matricaria occidentalis Greene (OR, CA)
Artemisia scopulorum A. Gray (western US: CO, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY)
Artemisia biennis Willd. (widespread, US and Canada)
Picrothamnus desertorum Nuttall (western US: AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR,
UT, WY)
Hulteniella integrifolia (Richards.) Tzvelev (Alaska, BC, Yukon, NWT,
Nunavut) 
 
For more information on the project, go to the Minnesota Department of
Agriculture site at
http://www.mda.state.mn.us/plants/badplants/tansycontrol.htm. 
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Alec McClay, Ph.D.

McClay Ecoscience
15 Greenbriar Crescent
Sherwood Park, Alberta
Canada T8H 1H8

Phone (780) 464-4962
Mobile (780) 953-4077
Fax       (780) 410-0496
Skype alec.mcclay
Email alec.mcclay at shaw.ca or biocontrol at mcclay-ecoscience.com   

www.mcclay-ecoscience.com
Biological control, invasive species, insect-plant ecology