Dec 30, 2008 7:26 pm US/Eastern
Flower Society Banks Seeds For Climate Change
FRAMINGHAM (WBZ) ―
While we all prepare for the New Year, the
New England Wild Flower Society is preparing for climate change.
Thousands of seeds from hundreds of rare plants across the region are being collected and stored in a "bank" as an insurance policy for our future. Although most of the collection occurs in the summer and fall, I joined several volunteers Tuesday at
Garden in the Woods in Framingham to gather rhododendron seeds.
"We don't know with climate change coming which species will be here and which ones will be able to survive or which ones will migrate north," said Bill Brumback, director of the New England Wild Flower Society.
And so staff and volunteers go to great lengths to collect seeds from rare species with wild names like Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed), Sabbatia Kennedyana (Plymouth gentian) and the Trollius laxas (spreading globe flower). Once plant specimens are collected, the seeds are extracted and quality controlled. The seeds are then cleaned and counted, placed into groups of 1000 to be carefully recorded.
The batches are then weighed and placed in a special device to dry for a month.
Once the process is complete, the seeds are stored in the seed bank freezer, which is kept around the same temperature as a home version. Every five years, the seeds are thawed for germination. If seeds fail to grow, seeds are recollected and the process begins anew.
"We could not do all this without our volunteers," said Brumback. "Some of the things we do are not all that exciting like cleaning and counting seeds," said Betty White, a seed bank volunteer for the last six years. She likens the hours of dedication alongside other volunteers to a knitting club with a mission. "I always learn something and I feel like I am doing something valuable," said White.
"What we're trying to do is to have a hedge against climate change so that we are able to save particular species. Right now we dont know whether or not we will need it, but it's an insurance policy," said Brumback.
Seeds from common plants across New England have also been collected by the Society as part of the
Millenium Seed Bank Project. This global initiative is storing seeds from every continent to protect against the extinction of plant species. If you would like to volunteer for seed bank collection, contact the
New England Wild Flower Society.
Learn More:
Millennium Seed Bank Project
Visit:
Garden In The Woods
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