Part 2: Back From the Dead
Seeds, despite their small size, are surprisingly hardy. Under the right conditions (often very cold and dry) seeds can easily survive, and in some cases remain viable, for centuries. However, with a remarkable set of circumstances, a seed can be preserved for even longer.
In the 90s, a Chinese lotus seed dated at around 1,400 years old was found at the bottom of a cold lake and later grew into a healthy plant. A date palm seed found on an archaeological dig in Israel (and later left for decades in a researcher’s desk drawer) was eventually grown into a reproducing adult. But neither of these cases have anything on the oldest viable seed ever discovered.
In 2012, an Ice Age squirrel’s den was uncovered in Siberia after being encased in ice for over 30,000 years. Russian scientists extracted genetic tissue from some frozen seeds found in the burrow and managed to successfully germinate them, resulting in the growth of the flowering plant Silene stenophylla. The new specimen (left), may not look like much at first. However, when compared to its descendants in modern-day Siberia, it has some noticeable physical differences, the results of the thousands of years of evolution it skipped. The plant has since created seeds of its own, furthering the legacy of an ancient organism thrust into the present through sheer coincidence.
The conditions by which this seed remained intact for millennia have influenced the way scientists preserve seeds today: the concept known as a “Seed Bank.” Continue to PART 3.
