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Now why hasn’t someone thought of this before?
Before `online directories’ there was an excellent system of each botanic garden issuing an annual `Index Seminum’, an often ample list of available seed (for free). It seems to be still going. Access to seed was not public but restricted to other botanic gardens. I grew up with this system but it has probably been going for much more than a hundred years. As the major botanic gardens were associated with herbaria (for example, as at Kew) and the seed came from garden voucher specimens, it was identified to the very highest level.
You may be interested in this recent article. Full version here.
Thanks Luigi – that’s fantastic information. It might be interesting to see how many CWRs could be tracked down in various Index Seminum (s). I think the botanic garden system works under CBD rules, rather than ITPGRFA, but my information is very dated.