Have been orgainizing my photos from Stromatolytes through the Gymnosperms. Would like to take photos to complete the “picture”. Does anyone know of the existence of any species of the following in any Botanic Garden: Larix Cathaya Acmopyle Manoao Microcachrys Fitzroya Parasitaxus Saxegothaea Amentotaxus Pseudotaxus Gnetum Nothotsuga (Tsuga) longibracteata
Parasitaxus is not in cultivation anywhere; all attempts to grow it have been unsuccessful. You'd need a trip to see it in the wild in New Caledonia. Nothotsuga needs a trip to China, it doesn't appear to have been introduced to the 'west' yet. But several Chinese botanical gardens have specimens. Larix is abundant in cool climate places like northern Europe, but it doesn't thrive in Australia's heat, not sure if anyone grows it there - somewhere like Hobart would be your best chance. The rest are all in cultivation, but rare. I'd think that RBG Melbourne should have several of them though.
Thank you Michael. RBG Melbourne has many conifers, but not those on my list, so trying to organize/coordinate trips. There is a Larix listed, but it has since gone. Will try to contact Hobart. Thank you for responding.
The other place to look for larches is in any high-altitude gardens in the Snowy Mts. Maybe Canberra might just be high enough for them to survive, but I suspect realistically you'd need to look above about 1,000 m altitude. Here's Larix decidua in the wild (Aletschwald, Switzerland), creative commons cc-by-sa license, if it is of any use. Plenty more cc-licensed photos at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Larix and its various subcategories.
Also worth trying here for various genera: http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?/gardening/stories/s160354.htm
