National Seed Bank

Brief description

The National Seed Bank is an integral part of the ex-situ collections of the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. By conducting research, the National Seed Bank team is extending the breadth of knowledge on how to collect, process, store and germinate native seeds as we increase the number of different plant species held in our collection. The National Seed Bank holds more than 7,700 seed accessions from more than 4,000 different plant taxa, 139 of which are threatened species. The National Seed Bank has focused seed collecting efforts on plant species endemic to the local alpine, subalpine and grasslands regions. Our work has been fuelled by the increasing threat of climate change and human impact upon the Australian alpine flora.