Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership - our projects in Australia
Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is working with partners in Australia to re-introduce plants at risk into new and safe habitats.
11 Aug 2009
- 11 likes
- 0 comments
Feather-leaved banksia (Photo: Renee Hartley, Department of Environment and Conservation)
Saving seeds in Australia
Seeds collected through Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership (MSBP) are given regular health checks. We take a sample and see if they will grow. In a recent check on this Australian banksia, so many grew that our Australian partners took them back home. The seedlings were planted in a safe, disease-free new home in May 2008.
The very rare feather-leaved banksia of Western Australia is threatened in the wild by too-frequent fires and a fungal disease. Its rarity made it a priority for ‘seed banking’ - storing seeds as an insurance for the future, we now have its seeds safely banked both in Australia and in Kew’s own Millennium Seed Bank.
Introducing feather-leaved banksia back into the wild
Anne Cochrane is a senior research scientist at the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation in Albany – Kew’s first Millennium Seed Bank partner in Australia.
Over half their local plants are found nowhere else in the world!
All Australian States and Territories now work with Kew. The aim is to protect 60% of their locally rare and threatened plants by 2010.
The first step in banking banksias is finding the rare wild plants then collecting their fruiting cones. They rely on fires in their life cycle for regeneration so we have to burn the cones, soak them and dry them to get the seeds out. It’s a long road to restoring plant communities.
Help Kew save the worlds plant life for our future
More from Kew
- Print friendly
- Send to a friend
-
Send to a friend Close
- Spread the word
-
Spread the word Close
- Blog this
- Like this
- Close Thanks for liking this page. Tell us why by adding a comment at the bottom.
- Donate
Follow Kew
Keep up to date with events and news from Kew
Related Tags
- the UK
- interesting
- landscapes
- amazing
- beautiful
- english garden
- around the world
- adventurous
- irreplaceable
- ground breaking
- discovered
- challenging
- common
- flowering
- wild
- newly discovered
- new
- at risk
- endangered
- rainforest
- uncharted
- needs help
- together
- rich
- innovative
- powerful
- for kids
- inspiring
- medicinal
- weed
- edible
- tasty
- creative
- imaginative
- extraordinary
- ornamental
- exotic
- fun
- popular
- english heritage
- historical
- romantic
- rare
- valuable
- ancient
- of use
- massive
- scarce
- rare
- exploited
- fragile
- urgent
- useful
- active
- unusual
- collectable
- high
- old
- ancient
- Kew overseas
- donate
- for family
- gifts that help
- money saving
- popular
- remember
- save
- royal
- give money
- in urgent need
- sponsor
- Kew at home
- collections
- surveying
- wet tropics
- systematics
- chemistry
- diversity
- verge of extinction
- big
- useful plants
- mysterious
- give time
- Africa
- conserving
- fieldwork
- events
- treasures
- partnerships
- successes
- pretty
- fragrant
- dangerous
- high up
- wet
- essential
- drylands
- spiky
- brand new
- hot
- friends & family
- dry
- hot spot
- garden plants
- woodland
- business
- South East Asia
News from the Gardens
Visiting botanic gardens in the southern hemisphere
by: Anthony Hall, Arboretum team blog 22 May 2012
With the weather being so unseasonably cold in the UK recently, I thought I'd share with you some botanical warmth down under with the highlights of botanic gardens in Sydney, Perth and Singapore.
- 10 likes
- 0 comments
Director (CEO and Chief Scientist) of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to return to Australia
14 Sep 2011
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew announced today that Director (CEO and Chief Scientist), Professor Stephen Hopper FLS will step down in autumn 2012 after six years in the job.
No comments on ''