Seeds of hope: Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank celebrates 20 years with 2.4 billion seeds banked

The striking glass building, opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2000, houses an underground seed vault that is floodproof, bomb-proof, radiation-proof and has the capacity to hold up to three quarters of the world’s flora - but the MSB is much more than just a building. It also represents a global network for biodiversity conservation with over 260 partnerships with institutions from 97 countries and territories across Africa, the Americas, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. Partners range from universities and botanic gardens, to government institutions and more. Since 2013, RBG Kew’s MSB staff have helped with the development of seven new, international seed banks, where facilities vary from basic to state of the art.

These important partnerships mean that, wherever possible, every species collected and banked in its native country is also duplicated at the MSB, so that every plant is safely stored in two different locations – the ultimate ‘insurance policy’. The seeds, collected from nine of the world’s biogeographic regions and all 36 of its terrestrial biodiversity hotspots, are frozen in time, stored in air-tight glass containers stacked in huge -20°C freezers.

Dr Elinor Breman, senior scientist at RBG Kew’s MSB says: “The Millennium Seed Bank is a truly international project, which brings together thousands of scientists across the world who all share a common love for plants and an ambition to ensure their conservation for future generations.”

Training and development have been crucial to the seed bank’s success and Kew scientists have delivered training programmes at the MSB and in countries across the globe for more than 2000 people from 61 different countries and territories. Many of these people have gone on to manage seed banks which conserve their national and regional floras.

Victoria Wilman, Conservation Coordinator at South African National Biodiversity Institute and partner of the MSB says: “It is wonderful to be part of a worldwide conservation project and to be able to safeguard our species from total extinction. We have received so much support from the MSB including funds, training and guidance so that we can store our flora for the long term. It is a great feeling when you find a species that you have been searching for and can finally be sure that it is safely banked for the future.”

The MSB has also been vital in protecting UK native species and earlier this year celebrated banking 13 million seeds from over 10,000 native UK trees and shrubs. This collection, made by the UK National Tree Seed Project, funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, offers future possibilities for both research and conservation of UK woodlands.

Seeds of hope...

The seed that could help breed a carrot tolerant to climate change

Daucus carota is the wild relative of the carrot – it has thin wiry roots, is inedible and looks completely different to the carrot we are used to seeing in the supermarket. However, because it hasn’t been cultivated by humans, unlike its orange edible cousin, it still has genetic traits that could be useful. The species can withstand much harsher growing conditions and may hold traits that could be used to create a new species of edible carrot in the future, which would be able to tolerate drought and a warmer climate.

The seed that has restored an Australian habitat after devastating bushfires

Clover glycine (Glycine latrobeana) is a rare pea endemic to eastern Australia and listed as nationally vulnerable. Back in 2007, over 1000 seeds of clover glycine were collected from the Mount Lofty Ranges for long-term storage in the MSB. Following months of intense bushfires early this year in Cudlee Creek near Adelaide, where 23,200 hectares burned, the MSB has worked with its Australian partners who are restoring the area. The MSB sent 250 seeds to Australia for propagation in a seed orchard to produce seeds for banking and plants for the restoration of the Cudlee Creek fire scar. 

The seed that has been extinct in the wild since 2005

Abutilon pitcairnense, commonly known as the yellow fatu flower, became extinct in the wild in 2005 after a landslide killed the last remaining wild plant on its native island Pitcairn in the Southern Central Pacific. Thankfully, seed had already been collected from a cultivated individual and Kew now has the seed safely stored in the MSB and a propagated plant in Kew Garden’s Temperate House.

The seed that could not be banked

Research into the cryopreservation of seeds and planting individuals in the landscape are both ongoing at Wakehurst in an effort to help conserve species which require a different approach to conservation. Recalcitrant species cannot tolerate the drying process, the key process seeds need to go through to be safely ‘banked’. The Wakehurst propagation team have been working with the iconic and endangered monkey puzzle (Araucaria araucana) to raise hundreds of young monkey puzzle trees from seed wild-collected in 2009 as part of a joint trip between Wakehurst nursery staff and Chilean partners. In collaboration with arboretum colleagues, these seedlings have been planted out in a new Chilean woodland at Wakehurst. This planting, grown from known wild populations, will be a future living conservation resource, banked in Wakehurst’s landscape.

The seed creating a new landscape at Wakehurst 

Linking Kew's unique capability to apply science to horticulture, propagation work is ongoing at Wakehurst for landscapes such as the American Prairie, a new six-acre sweeping grassland inspired by the prairies of North America aiming to educate and inspire visitors. This has been partly grown from viable wild-collected seeds of 15 wild species, collected by the Wakehurst and MSB teams in 2019 with US partners specifically for this project.

Ed Ikin, Head of Landscape, Horticulture and Research at Wakehurst says: “The American Prairie is the first of a series of new landscapes bringing the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership to life in the heart of Wakehurst. Through celebrating the beauty of plants and highlighting their fragility, we can spark new connections to biodiversity. Created using ecological principles and executed at scale, our new landscapes will be a valuable future research resource.”

What is next for the MSB?
The MSB will continue to be at the forefront of preventing biodiversity loss and protecting plants for future generations. The seed bank aims to focus on increasing the genetic diversity, value and use of its collections. This will include a focus on hypothesis driven research to help solve global challenges.
 

Dr. Elinor Breman says: “Training will be central to working with partners, as we learn from them and help enable them to conserve their national flora. We will also continue to improve the ways we work, looking at the science underpinning seed banking, and increasing our work in cryopreservation and restoration. We will also be looking to transform our growing for scientific research. We’ll research valuable plant traits, test species’ response to environmental stress and grow plants for conservation in a range of precisely controlled experimental environments. We are really excited to be moving the MSB Partnership forward.”