Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership – Other UK Overseas Territories

Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank holds collections of threatened and endemic plants from several other UK Overseas Territories.

Colin Clubbe identifying species in Anegada, British Virgin Islands (Image: Steve Alton, RBG Kew)

Saving seeds for the future in other UK Overseas Territories

Through collaboration with local partners many collections have been made. From Bermuda, the Bermuda fan palm (Sabal bermudana) and Bermuda cedar (Juniperus bermudiana), both of which are endemic. The Cayman sage (Salvia caymanensis) was thought to be extinct for more than 30 years until it was rediscovered in 2007. From the British Virgin Islands are 22 species including the endemic and critically endangered Poke-me-boy, Acacia anegadensis, a tree in the legume family.

More recently, in 2009, a Kew expedition to South Georgia in the South Atlantic has resulted in the collection of a high proportion of the native flora of the island, while 9 collections from the extremely remote island of Tristan da Cunha have recently arrived at the MSB.