Plant Collections Network

The Plant Collections Network (PCN) (formerly the North American Plant Collections Consortium) is a group of North American botanical gardens and arboreta that aims to improve the continent's living plant collections, and enhance the availability of plant germplasm. The consortium is administered by the American Public Gardens Association from Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania, in conjunction with the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

According to the consortium's web site, it has three strategic goals:

Increase the number of PCN Collections to represent the major genera of ornamental plants found in American Public Gardens Association member gardens;
Facilitate coordination of PCN plant collections; and
Raise professional plant curation standards in public gardens.

The network is intended to represent woody and herbaceous ornamentals, both native and exotic. The main objective for each consortium member is to assemble the most comprehensive possible group of plants within a particular taxon, collecting plants that are both taxonomically and genetically from different populations throughout the natural range of the plants. As of March 2006, network members and their collections included:

Arboretum at Arizona State University
- Phoenix; 300 taxa, 40+ varieties

Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
- Acer; 74 taxa
- Carya; 16 taxa, 10 spp
- Fagus; 23 taxa
- Syringa; 238 taxa, 20 spp
- Tsuga; 72 taxa, 7 spp

Chicago Botanic Garden
- Spiraea; 52 taxa

Cornell Plantations
- Acer; 98 taxa

Fullerton Arboretum (California State University)
- Citrus; 36 accessions, representing 20 taxa

Ganna Walska Lotusland
- Cycads; 170 taxa, including 9 hybrids, 16 undescribed taxa

Green Spring Gardens Park (Provisional)
- Hamamelis; 13 taxa, including all 4 spp

Henry Foundation for Botanical Research
- Magnolia; 15 taxa, native to US

Highstead Arboretum
- Kalmia; 82 taxa, 3 spp, 76 cultivars, 4 forms, 2 hybrids

The Huntington Botanical Gardens
- Camellia; 1,120 taxa

George Landis Arboretum
- Quercus of the Northeast U.S.; 14 taxa, 9 spp

Morton Arboretum
- Malus; 9 out of 10 known species, plus cultivars
- Ulmus; 78 taxa, 35 spp, 43 hybrids and cultivars

Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania
- Abies; 35 taxa, including cultivars

Mt. Cuba Center
- Hexastylis; 19 taxa, including 10 spp
- Trillium; 47 taxa

Norfolk Botanical Garden
- Camellia; 525 taxa
- Hydrangaceae; 144 taxa

North Carolina Arboretum
- Rhododendron; 15 spp, native azaleas

Polly Hill Arboretum
- Stewartia; 19 taxa

Rhododendron Species Foundation and Botanical Garden
- Rhododendron subsect. Fortunea; 104 acc, 15 taxa

San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum
- Mesoamerican Cloud Forest; 550 taxa, primarily from tropical mountains of southern Mexico and Central America