News from Kew's Millennium Seed Bank
Browse the latest news from Kew's Millennium Seed Bank and find out more about how we're helping to save plant life around the world. We focus our efforts on plant species threatened with extinction and of most use in the future.
Plant story - conserving Ixia mostertii, an endangered plant species
01 Jan 2010
Ixia mostertii, found in the Breede River Valley in South Africa. The area is better known for its fine wines, fruits and beautiful mountains.
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Plant story - Dalea azurea has been given new lease of life by Millennium Seed Bank partners in Chile
01 Jan 2010
Dalea azurea is an endangered plant species restricted to only one valley in the area of Paposo, in the Atacama Region in Chile. The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is helping to protect this plant for our future.
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Plant story - endangered plant capeflats conebush has been successfully collected for conservation
01 Jan 2010
Capeflats conebush (Leucadendron levisanus) is endemic to the western Cape area of South Africa and is Critically Endangered. The seed of this plant species is now safely stored in Kew's Millennium Seed Bank.
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Plant story - a rare tree from Kenya, Aloe ballyi, has been saved by Millennium Seed Bank partners
01 Jan 2010
The seeds of a rare Aloe tree were collected in the Taita Hills of Kenya during a collaborative collecting mission involving the National Genebank of Kenya and the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership.
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Plant story - collecting Menodora linoides, a rare plant from Chile
01 Jan 2010
This attractive small shrub is known from only five locations in the hills of central Chile, and was in danger of extinction, before the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership got involved.
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Plant story - the elusive Erica greyi found after 111 years!
01 Jan 2010
In August 2008 the Cape Millennium Seed Bank team went to a farm in the Koue Bokkeveld region in South Africa, to collect seeds of the endangered Erica greyi.
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Plant story - Antarctica's plant life is saved from extinction
01 Jan 2010
All plant species found in Antarctica have been saved thanks to the efforts of the botanist, Dr Tim Rich. Tim's work has ensured that Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank now holds seed collections from all vascular plant flora found in the region, safe and sound in its underground vaults at Wakehurst.
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Plant story - conserving Protea odorata, an endangered plant species
01 Jan 2010
Efforts to find and conserve populations of Protea odorata date back to the early 1980's when four sites were identified.
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Plant story - Acanthus syriacus, a difficult species for seed collecting
01 Jan 2010
The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership has conserved the rare plant Acanthus syriacus. Farmers cut the plants back because of the hard and harmful spines that hurt them and their cattle. Collecting the seeds of Acanthus syriacus also presents a challenge.
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Plant story - saving Oldfieldia dactylophylla, a rare and highly endangered tree species from Malawi
01 Jan 2010
The excitement could not be concealed when the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership collection team came across three Oldfieldia dactylophylla trees loaded with fruits.
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Saving seeds
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Conserving Darwin's Letters
by: Eleanor Hasler, Library, Art and Archives blog 17 May 2013
Discover more about the conservation work carried out on one of the most important, popular and fascinating collection in the Archives.
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How to Create a “Slab-Planted” Bonsai
by: Richard Kernick, Bonsai blog 13 May 2013
Richard, Kew’s bonsai specialist, and renowned bonsai expert Nobuyuki Kajiwara look into the process of creating a “slab-planted” Japanese white pine bonsai.
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New initiative from Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank to protect UK trees takes root
10 May 2013
With a host of new pests and diseases attacking the United Kingdom’s native treescape, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank is tackling the threat by establishing the country’s first national collection of tree seeds – the UK National Tree Seed Project.
Is our daily cup of coffee under threat?
08 Nov 2012
A new study from Kew suggests that Arabica coffee could be extinct in the wild within 70 years.
World's smallest waterlily brought back from the brink of extinction at Kew
18 May 2010
Kew’s top propagation ‘code-breaker’, horticulturist Carlos Magdalena, has cracked the enigma of growing a rare species of African waterlily. The 'thermal’ lily (Nymphaea thermarum) is believed to be the smallest waterlily in the world, with pads that can be as little as 1 cm in diameter.
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.
