The William L. Brown Center (WLBC) is a separately endowed center of excellence within the Science and Conservation Division of Missouri Botanical Garden, dedicated to understanding and preserving relationships between plants and people.
Humans depend on plant resources for food, shelter, medicines, materials, and elements of their spiritual world. Eighty percent of the population of the developing world relies on plants for their primary health care. Indigenous groups use plants in multiple ways during their daily lives. This traditional plant knowledge is mostly conveyed orally from generation to generation. These groups increasingly face changes that threaten the preservation of traditional knowledge and it is estimated that the majority of the world’s spoken languages will disappear in the next 50 years.
There are about 10,000 species of edible plants, yet only about 100 species make up the vast majority of the world’s food supply and less than 10 supply more than 90% of the world’s calories. Nature’s bountiful plant diversity has barely been tapped to improve today’s important food plants.
WLBC staff bring their diverse expertise and perspectives to research, conservation, and education on these topics, combining natural and social sciences as well as community-based conservation action and interdisciplinary outreach. WLBC manages facilities to further these goals including a plant domestication genomics lab, the BioCultural collection of plant-based artifacts, two community-based conservation areas in Madagascar, and the Garden's Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum. An ethnobotany data module in the Garden's TROPICOS database facilitates the capture and retrieval of information about plant use.
An overarching goal of the Center is to address the lack of adequate research capacity in developing countries that are home to the majority of the world’s plant species. Training takes place in the field, at workshops, or through collaborating universities in St. Louis and ranges from informal hands-on training to formal graduate degree education.
The William L. Brown Award for Excellence in Plant Genetic Resources Conservation is given through the Missouri Botanical Garden every two years and recognizes career accomplishments in research and promotion of preservation of genetic diversity.