We’re pleased to announce that issue 26 (January to June 2014) of Samara is now available to read on the Kew website.

The theme of this issue is useful and medicinal plants; we have a range of articles showing the diversity of research and community projects involving useful plants from the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP).

Our lead article by Gary Martin discusses the implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation with a focus on practical conservation of medicinal plants. We review the Project MGU – Useful Plants Project’s activities with local communities and schools in Mali and South Africa. MSBP partner institutes in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan summarise the work they undertake with medicinal plants and seed conservation. We also have articles outlining research on useful MSBP collections from fodder plants in Jordan, investigating photosynthesis enzymes, potential oil seed crops and the chemistry of Mexican oregano.