Seed Storage


One of the Center for Plant Conservation's most important rare plant conservation strategies is the long-term storage of seeds. Seed storage can be the simplest, cheapest, most secure, and most effective way to maintain the highest possible genetic representation of many rare taxa. Scientists believe that seeds from many species can remain viable for decades and even centuries under optimum cold and dry conditions, which may involve cryogenic storage of seeds in liquid nitrogen. The Center for Plant Conservation maintains a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the USDA National Seed Storage Laboratory (NSSL) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Under this MOU, the NSSL stores seeds from rare U.S. plants in the Center's National Collection of Endangered Plants at no cost to the Center or its Participating Institutions. The NSSL maintains the most advanced and secure facilities currently possible for the safe long-term storage of seeds. This very important component of CPC's National Collection of Endangered Plants represents perhaps the most fundamental reserve of germ plasm possible for many of this country's rarest plants.


Source: C P C Home Page
Related links : Germplasm Resources Information Network
Contact: cpc@mobot.org