GardenBanter.co.uk - Botanists grow plants from seeds gathered 200 years ago

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/st...876414,00.html

quote

Samples were in notebook held by National Archive
Dutchman* catalogued species on Africa voyage

Ian Sample, science correspondent
Wednesday September 20, 2006
The Guardian

A handful of 200-year-old seeds discovered inside a red leather-bound
notebook at the National Archives in London have been nurtured to life by
botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Against all odds, experts at Wakehurst Place, Kew's garden in West Sussex,
resurrected three different plant species from the seeds in a recovery
effort few had believed would succeed.

The plants, including a shrub called Liparia villosa, a stunning
pincushion-like flower called Leucospermum, and a type of acacia, are now
growing vigorously, they said.

The survival of the seeds is all the more remarkable for the conditions they
have endured since being collected during the Napoleonic wars.

The notebook carries the inscription of Jan Teerlink, a Dutch merchant who
according to archive research gathered the seeds during a visit to the Cape
of Good Hope in 1803. On his return journey, with a cargo of tea and silk,
his Prussian vessel Henriette was captured by the British navy and all
documents, including his notebook, were seized and passed to the high court
of admiralty.

Some time later, the notebook was handed to the Tower of London and later
still to the the National Archives, where it lay undisturbed until curators
stumbled across it recently while carrying out cataloguing improvements.

The notebook was examined by Roelof van Gelder, a guest researcher from the
Royal Dutch Library, who discovered 40 tiny packets tucked inside containing
32 different species of seeds. Most were labelled with Latin names, but
others were apparently unidentifiable at the time and bore such tags as
"Unknown mimosa", "Seeds from a tree with crooked thorns" and "Seeds of the
wild melons eaten by the savages along the Orange river".

To attempt to revive the seeds, a few of each variety were given to
ecologists at the Millennium Seed Bank, an £80m project run by the Royal
Botanic Gardens that aims to preserve seeds from 10% of the world's
flowering plants. For one species, they had only two seeds to work with, one
of which turned out to have been eaten inside by an insect.

"I didn't think there was any chance of success whatsoever. Two hundred
years is a very long time for seeds to survive and these were kept in far
less than ideal conditions," said Matt Daws, a seed ecologist at the Bank.
"But it was also an opportunity that was far too good to pass up."

Dr Daws exposed the seeds to smoke, exploiting the fact that many seeds from
the region are germinated by bushfires. They were then transferred to a
jelly-like medium to see if they would grow. The team now has two shrubs
around 10cm high and the acacia is nearly at waist height. None of the
plants is believed to have become extinct since the seeds were collected.

For Kew's scientists, the project has been of more than historical interest.
"According to models of seed survival, even the toughest cereal seeds should
have died after so long in such condition," said Dr Daws. "If seed can
survive that long in poor conditions, then that's good news for those in the
Millennium Seed Bank stored under ideal conditions."

/quote

michael adams

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* unrecognised by i.e spellchecker
suggested substitution "dustman"