The Istituto Sperimentale per la Selvicoltura, Arezzo, Italy, coordinates work on Forest Gene Resources on behalf of the FAO Committee for Coordination of Mediterranean Forestry Research. The following species have been collected and are presently stored at the Institute:
Abies cephalonica
Seed of 10 provenances collected in Greece has been distributed in the past years. All remaining seed will be sown in the spring of 1980 because germinability is rapidly decreasing.
Pinus brutia, Pinus halepensis
Seed of several provenances is still available for distribution. Seed and seedling characteristics of all provenances have been recorded and collected; the information is available from the Institute upon request 1.
Pinus eldarica
A small quantity of seed from Quetta, Pakistan, was received by the Institute in 1978 through Dr. S.L. Krugman, U.S. Forest Service. As the quantity of seed was too small for distribution, it was used to establish a small plantation in Italy, which might in the future become a source of seed for international use. In addition, a small trial was established in Italy using two “controls” to connect Quetta with the international trials of Pinus halepensis/P. brutia/P. eldarica (see FGRI No. 6, pp. 12–18).
Pinus radiata and P. muricata
The CSIRO Division of Forest Research, Australia, and the New Zealand Forest Service, have carried out a very comprehensive seed collection in the natural range of these two species. Some seed has been made available for the Mediterranean region, and will be redistributed to interested Institutes in the region 2.
Future collections
Cooperation from the Mediterranean countries has recently been sought for provenance collections of Pinus nigra and Cupressus sempervirens.
2 See description of collections on pp. 45–46.
