New forms of botanical collections of tropical and subtropical plants in Russia

Cultivation of tropical plants in conditions of protected soil has significant risks associated with the damages of technical communications, finance termination, human factor, etc. To provide continous preservation and sustainable development of the collections, we offer new approaches to keeping private and state botanical collections jointly. This can significantly improve communication between collectors and help reduce risks of degradation or death of the rarest plants. Each collection can be presented as a separate section – such sections can be combined into a cluster structure. We have identified three types of cluster collections – state, distributed and private. State cluster collections are still at the starting phase of their formation that are united by the Council of Botanical Gardens of Russia and the Information and Analytical System (IAS) "Botanical Collections of Russia"(http://garden.karelia.ru/look/ru, http://hortusbotanicus.ru). Distributed cluster collections are the most stable – most of their plants are kept in greenhouses of botanical gardens, and a small part in private collections; such collections are more resistant to global risks, they are interchangeable, extensive and mobile. The cluster of private collections allows to cover several mono-type amateur collections. Such kind of collections can be divided into parts and can be kept and preserved by several collectors. Distributed keeping of plant funds can be recommended to any botanical collections, including open-ground collections, in vitro, seed banks, herbariums, etc.