Sorry to throw a shadow on your obviously good-intentioned suggestion, but
I do not think collecting plants from the wild can benefit wild populations.
The only exception I can imagine would be if this was to serve a well-planned
conservation program.
This kind of collecting is easily confused (by both the authorities AND
the collectors) with collecting for personal collection-building or for
profit.
Few personal collectors have space or time to accomodate a whole population
of plants pending their distribution or reintroduction. Perhaps a few
could be saved from impending doom, but such small numbers probably
won't have biological significance. Reintroduction of plants by amateurs
(and even by professionals) is not easy, and may actually be a hardship
to the habitat the plants are introduced to (are they being introduced
within their natural range? Are they free of pests?)
A better way to preserve the gene pool of a population slated for
destruction would be to collect the SEEDS from all the plants in the
population. Huge numbers of seeds (each genetically different) can be
stored in a small area with minimal care. Such a seed bank could be
maintained until proper facilities were available for re-planting or
rearing seedlings in a greenhouse.
Michael Chamberland