Seed library

Imagined What it could do

Imagine a library carved into an ancient hollow tree, where shelves hold tiny jars of seeds from every plant in the forest. Anyone could borrow seeds to grow, and return new seeds at harvest.

Real world Why store seeds?

Thousands of crop varieties and wild plants are at risk from disease, climate change, war and habitat loss. Seeds are like tiny backups of a plant's whole genetic recipe. If they are dried and frozen, many kinds can survive for decades or even centuries, ready to be grown again.

Real world The world's seed vaults

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, opened in 2008, is dug deep into a mountain on an Arctic island in Norway. It stores backup copies of seeds from gene banks around the world. In 2015, during the war in Syria, a research center that had lost access to its own seed bank withdrew seeds from Svalbard to grow new stocks: the first withdrawal in the vault's history.

In England, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, runs the Millennium Seed Bank, which focuses on wild plants. Many towns also have small "seed libraries" where gardeners share seeds from their own plants.

Think about it

1. Why might it be important to save seeds from plants we do not use today?
2. What seeds would you put in a seed library?
3. Why would a seed vault be built inside a frozen mountain?

Key words

Seed bank

A place where seeds are stored to protect plant varieties.

Variety

A particular type of a plant, like a kind of apple.

Genetic diversity

Differences in genes within a species.