16 November 2016
For immediate release
Exotic brain plant to fund autism research
Minds for Minds is a research partnership between doctors, researchers and the community to better understand autism in
New Zealand. They have joined forces with Zealandia Horticulture Ltd, to raise funds for autism research with the launch
of the crested Celosia (bot. C.argentea cristata).
Zealandia director Graham Windross, scoured the west coast of the United States to find a suitable plant he felt
represented the intricacies of autism
“I found this hybridized variety of celosia, its form looked remarkably like a brain. It looked complex, was different,
unusual and a little exotic, rather like autism,” he said.
“We’re excited to partner with Zealandia Horticulture and we’re grateful for their support and commitment to our
research,” says Professor Russell Snell, one of the Minds for Minds researchers at the University of Auckland.
From February the plants will be available throughout the country and customers, when buying, will donate a percentage
of the purchase price to autism research
The first blooms from the new variety of seeds will be ready for the launch of the partnership at an event on Tuesday 22
November at the Sapphire Room in Ponsonby Central.
ENDS