As members of the Minnesota Native Plant Society, we are concerned about the protection of native plants in their natural habitat, and at the same time we are interested in growing native plants, either in gardens or in restoration projects. Protecting native plants in their natural habitat and propagating them in the garden are directly connected. Last fall, I raised the question of how to collect seeds of native plants to minimize damage to natural populations and asked for suggestions from MNPS members. Several people responded, including David Crawford who described some of his efforts at Wild River State Park and pointed out that involving people in large-scale seed collecting was another way to teach the value of native plants. You need to also be sure that the seed source was relatively near the area where you intend to plant.
Distance is a concern for genetic reasons.
Similar genetically based differences have been shown for the flowering time of cattails growing at different latitudes and for many other characteristics for a range of species, and these can be related to differences in the length of the growing season, or moisture, or light or other aspects of the environment. Reduced genetic diversity lessens the ability of the species as a whole to respond to future environmental changes.