Chicago Botanic Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens
Partner in Global Seed Bank Program
Millennium Seed Bank Project, Kew, London
Armed with technologically efficient laboratories and botanists having nearly 75 years of combined training in plant conservation science, the Chicago Botanic Garden has signed on as the latest partner in the Millennium Seed Bank Project with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London.
Other members of the international collaborative represent Western Australia, Burkina Faso, Chile, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Namibia and South Africa. U.S. participants include the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Research Center in Texas and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Washington, D.C.
Seed is collected on expedition “in the field” according to strict scientific protocols after botanists first locate the plants. The Garden’s botanists are experts with knowledge of temperate plants of the region, and are familiar with the area’s locations of specific species. The seeds are then sent to England, where they are stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius, deep in huge underground vaults in the Wellcome Trust Millennium Building at Wakehurst Place in West Sussex. This preserves each seed’s unique characteristics and ensures its prolonged viability. |
