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Seed Banking at Berry

The Berry Botanic Garden houses the largest collection of seeds of rare plants in the Pacific Northwest. When a botanist in Oregon, Washington, or Idaho collects seeds of a rare plant, they send them to the Berry Garden for long term storage. The conservation staff here at the garden also collect seeds during their summer field studies. We receive thousands of seeds for well-studied species, while for a rare species from a remote location we are lucky to receive a few dozen seeds.

Some seeds can survive for hundreds of years if they are kept dry and cool. As long as people have propagated plants, they have worked on techniques to make seeds last longer. Modern seed storage is based on the same principles used by native peoples when they placed their seed reserves in sealed jars in caves under the earth. Modern technology allows us to control the storage conditions more precisely. As soon as we receive seeds, we place them in our specially designed seed storage vault. Like a museum vault for the storage of precious objects, our vault protects the seeds from the day to day effects of water and heat and from catastrophic events like fires.

Once we know the seeds are safely stored, we begin the Herculean task of separating the seeds from the stems and flowers. Most seed heads are sent to us just as they were picked from the wild. Using tiny brushes and tweezers, we count each seed individually. Seeds are then sealed in plastic-coated envelopes much like seal-a-meal bags. Like frozen food, seeds last the longest when carefully frozen. Our seeds are stored permanently in a Kenmore freezer inside our fire-proof vault.

Our seed collection provides an insurance policy in case a native population of a rare plant is destroyed. As long as they remain alive, our seeds help guarantee a future for the rare plants of our region. Our function is similar to that of a zoo, which maintains populations whose survival in the wild is precarious. Unlike an animal in a zoo, however, our seeds don't let us know when they have died. To find out whether our seed storage efforts are successful, we periodically remove a few seeds from the freezer and try to germinate them.

We regularly receive requests for the seeds of rare species. We send out seeds for two purposes: efforts to reintroduce populations that have been lost from the wild and research projects on the basic biology of rare species. When Malheur Wire-lettuce disappeared from the one site on earth where it grows, the population was replanted with seeds from the Berry Garden's collection. Seeds were thawed, germinated in a laboratory, and the young plants were returned to the wild. Our collection is an integral part of the long-term recovery plan for the western lily. By moving seeds between sites, we will allow populations that were once continuous to still be connected. We also send seeds to researchers who are studying the basic biology of rare species. By germinating these seeds and studying the plants, scientists provide information that will help in efforts to protect rare species.