15 Oct 2009

Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Partnership ‘top banana’ as it celebrates banking 10% of the world’s wild plant species.

Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is celebrating collecting, banking and conserving 10% of the world’s wild plant species by banking its 24,200th plant species.

  • Close Thanks for liking this page. Tell us why by adding a comment at the bottom.
10% banana - Musa itinerans (Yunnan banana, wild forest banana)

The yunnan banana (Musa itinerans) is the 24,200th plant species saved at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank.

In a time of increasing concern about loss of biodiversity and climate change, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership provides a real message of hope and is a vital resource in an uncertain world.

Stephen Hopper, Director, RBG Kew

This special plant species is a pink wild banana from China which is an important staple for wild Asian elephants. It is also a wild crop relative that is a valuable genetic resource for breeding new varieties of banana with disease resistance traits to ensure the continued cultivation of bananas in the future.

Commonly called the yunnan banana, Musa itinerans is increasingly under threat in the wild due to its jungle habitat being cleared for commercial agriculture. Seed of this plant species was collected in Southwest China by our local Millennium Seed Bank partner, the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

An official 10% banking ceremony hosted by Kew’s Director, Professor Stephen Hopper, and attended by representatives from our partner institutions from around the globe, took place at Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank located at Wakehurst Place, Sussex, on the 15th October 2009.

The 10% target was set in 2000 when Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership was formed. While this accomplishment is being celebrated, a new challenge approaches – collecting and banking a quarter of the world’s plants by 2020.

Get involved - Adopt a Seed, Save a Species

Without plants there could be no life on earth, and yet every day another four plant species face extinction. Too often when we hear these kind of statistics there is little that we can do as individuals, but thanks to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership and the Adopt a Seed, Save a Species campaign there is something that you can do to ensure the survival of a plant species.

Save a plant species outright or adopt a seed for just £25 

3 comments on 'Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Partnership ‘top banana’ as it celebrates banking 10% of the world’s wild plant species.'

The Bamboo Society says

16/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Report abuse

A brilliant achievement by a great team. Lets hope the funding and the partnerships continue long into the future, to preserve the planet's myriad plantlife and all who depend on it.

Kew MSBP says

16/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Report abuse

Thanks for the kind comments guys. We're pretty proud of our 10% achievement too! Onwards and upwards though - and in terms of funding - we're inviting people to support our work through the Adopt a Seed, Save a Species campaign. The campaign is great and described above, with links to find out more. With your help, we can continue to make a difference and help save plants for our future.

Nick Bowhay says

15/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Report abuse

Congratulations on reaching that 10% target, it's a fantstic achievement that often goes unnoticed. Well done on all the hard work put in by all the numerous inviduals that make up a fantastic team doing an important job. Here's to the next 10%!

Sign up to Kew News

Related Links

Adopt a Seed, Save a Species

Related Tags

  1. interesting
  2. landscapes
  3. amazing
  4. beautiful
  5. english garden
  6. around the world
  7. adventurous
  8. irreplaceable
  9. ground breaking
  10. innovative
  11. inspiring
  12. for kids
  13. creative
  14. imaginative
  15. exotic
  16. fun
  17. popular
  18. english heritage
  19. historical
  20. romantic
  21. ancient
  22. rare
  23. challenging
  24. discovered
  25. endangered
  26. useful
  27. active
  28. high
  29. old
  30. unusual
  31. donate
  32. gifts that help
  33. royal
  34. the UK
  35. Kew at home
  36. powerful
  37. high up
  38. wet
  39. ornamental
  40. pretty
  41. hot
  42. extraordinary
  43. treasures
  44. wild
  45. tactile
  46. flowering

News from the Gardens

RSS Feed for the blog Library, Art and Archives blog

Displaying the letters of Augustine Henry

by: Virginia Mills, Library, Art and Archives blog
03 Feb 2012
The Directors' Correspondence team has just put some of the letters of botanist Augustine Henry on display in Kew's Library Reading Room. Find out why we chose him as our subject and how the display brings together material from many of Kew's behind-the-scenes collections.
RSS Feed for the blog Library, Art and Archives blog

Promoting Voices of Oral History in the USA

by: Michele Losse, Library, Art and Archives blog
31 Jan 2012
Michele, Assistant Archivist at Kew, blogs about her experiences at the American Oral History Society's annual conference held in Denver, Colorado, last October.

Kew News Alert

All Kew News