Plant ExplorationFinding New Plants in Far Off LandsAt great expense and risk, botanists and explorers have traveled to far-off lands on plant exploration safaris. From the time of the Conquistadores up to the Victorian age, it was common for expeditions to find new plants to be launched.Once the huge potential of the New World (the Americas) was realized, it caught the fancy of the whole of Europe. 
New and interesting plant specimens, animals that had never been seen before, as well as untold treasure and adventure lured explorers to investigate. Some plant finding expeditions were funded by the crown, and looked upon with great interest and excitement. Finding new lands, and bringing back interesting specimens, flora and fauna to display for the masses to look at in wonder was a full time industry of the time. Many of these expeditions brought back wondrous new plants, which took the world by storm.
Plant Populations and Progress:The only exception to the rule of 'never take plants from the wild' is when the entire habitat could be lost to a disaster or progress, then its considered acceptable to salvage as much of a population of plants as possible.There have been cases of wild plants going extinct due to the lack of foresight in the planning stages, and there are also documented incidents of wildflower experts and botanists working frantically in front of bulldozers as they destroy the plants habitat. The development of the Wardian Case, a tiny glass greenhouse, was the saving of many tender plants discovered in other climates – it protected the transplants from deadly salt water on long ocean voyages, and gave the plants a chance to acclimatize to their new homes. Plant exploration still occurs, albeit in a more sedate manner. With more understanding of how DNA and genetics works, new plants are made, not found. Gene splicing, tissue culture and intensive crossbreeding can develop more new plants more quickly than finding them in the wild. With the concern for habitat degradation and loss there is less approval for destroying the environment for the sake of collecting just one more lovely plant. There are recommendations to restrict the ransacking of the wild stocks of plants and protect the genetic diversity. Now, even though plant exploration expeditions are still carried out in far off places, much more care for the delicate balance of the ecosystems and environment is taken. With the recommendation to only take a few seeds, most explorers bring back only photographs of the plant and its habitat to share with others, leaving the wild populations of these rare plants to flourish for generations to come.
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