Seed bank seeds,stored in airtight jars. The left jar contains Eucalyptus calophylla,middle jar Gonolobus sp.,and at right,Turkish hazel nuts (Corylus colurna). These seeds are stored as part of the Millennium Seed Bank Project,an international effort aimed at safeguarding seeds from 30,000 species. This will represent 10 percent of all the world's flowering plants. The jars containing the seeds are kept in a vault at minus 20 degrees Celsius. Most seeds are still viable after several years of cold storage,but some must be replenished more frequently. In 2007 the seed bank contained the seeds from over 18,000 species,making it the largest wild seed collection in the world |