Survival of the Ash: Why One Arboretum Expert Travels to China

Last fall, Arboretum Director of Collections Kris Bachtell made his seventh expedition to China. While there, he spent two weeks in the Qinling Mountain range, furthering scientific ash research.

Bachtell’s expedition to China was funded by grants from the North America/China Plant Exploration Consortium and the United States Department of Agriculture. In total, he made 50 collections, mostly ash seeds, but some from maples, lindens and oaks. He focused on collecting new Chinese species that might best grow in Chicago’s urban and suburban landscapes.

Here Bachtell shares with the tree talk community the importance of ash tree studies.

tt: What did you research while in China?

Bachtell: I spent most days hiking, looking for ash trees. With the help of the Director of Living Plant Documentation from the Beijing Botanic Garden and two colleagues from Morris Arboretum and the U.S. National Arboretum, we located six different wild ash species and collected seeds from five: the Chinese ash, Manchurian ash, Pax’s ash, Chinese Flowering ash, and Island ash, which is an ash so rare it’s believed not to exist in the United States.

tt: Why collect these wild ash seeds?

Bachtell: There is evidence that Chinese ash trees are resistant to the Emerald Ash borer, the invasive insect that is ravishing 25 million ash trees across the United States and infesting seven counties in Illinois alone. If you want to test a species for its insect and disease resistance, it’s best to test it in its purest form from wild seeds. We will receive the seeds this November and begin using them for testing in a year.

tt: How is your seed collection important to the future of ash survival?

Bachtell: It provides a foundation of knowledge for insect resistance and breeding work. We’re helping pave the way toward the creation of an ash hybrid that is resistant to the Emerald Ash borer. I may not see an ash hybrid in my lifetime, but our research promises it will exist someday—and that will help guarantee that our Green ash will survive.

Want to know more? You can ask Kris Bachtell specific questions about his trip by posting your inquiries here, and he’ll post a response.

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