Seed ‘ark’ preserves plant diversity

FRAMINGHAM, Massachusetts — An ordinary-looking freezer in a sturdy cinder block shed at a suburban Boston botanical garden holds what might be New England’s most important seed catalog.

Inside the freezer in Framingham are tightly sealed packages containing an estimated 6 million seeds from hundreds of plant species, bearing obscure or hard-topronounce names like potentilla robbinsiana. They are rare varieties of plant life native to the region — in some cases found nowhere else in the world — and are in grave danger of vanishing from the landscape.

The “seed ark”, as it’s playfully dubbed by the New England Wild Flower Society, is not unlike Noah’s biblical vessel in its quest to preserve from calamity a rich diversity of life. In this case it’s not animals marching two by two but vegetation threatened by any number of things, including natural disasters, climate change, unchecked development or simply being trampled by unsuspecting hikers.

The society’s 2015 survey of more than 3,500 known plant species determined that 22 percent were rare, in decline, endangered or perhaps already extinct.

“Plants have always been second-class citizens when it comes to conservation,” said Bill Brumback, the organization’s conservation director who for three decades has supervised the collection and storage of rare seeds in New England. “Animals are much more, shall we say, charismatic. Plants don’t get the same protections under the federal endangered species act.”

Once gathered, seeds are first brought to a facility in western Massachusetts and dried to 20 to 30 percent of relative humidity, said Brumback, explaining that the drying process assures that liquid inside cells won’t expand and crack when exposed to low temperatures.

The seeds are then brought to Framingham, sealed in foil envelopes and frozen at -20 C, keeping them viable for decades or even centuries, depending on the individual species.

“These are species on Earth that deserve to live as much as we do,” Brumback said.

He added: “If you lost one plant species is the world going to stop? No it’s not. But if you lose enough plant species and enough biological diversity, we don’t know what the effects are going to be.”