On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew severely damaged 70% of the living collection of palms and cycads (about 41,000 accessions) st the Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami, Florida, the largest tropical botanical garden in the continental US. This project will provide emergency support to assess the damage and to collect and preserve specimens, including trunk wood of palms and cycads. These specimens would figure in research projects that represent unique opportunities -- they would normally not be carried out as they involve destruction of rare or irreplaceable specimens. Specimen collection must occur within the next two weeks before decay and dessication render the material unsuitable.
