Globally, many species of plants are at risk of extinction. In South Australia, more than XX% of native plants are considered to be threatened. Seed Banking is an important action taken to ensure the conservation of indigenous flora. Seeds, as a living collection, provide important ex situ long-term insurance against the many threats plants face as they provide an opportunity to re-establish species should they be lost or if their populations require augmentation.
The South Australian Seed Conservation Centre (SASCC) has been seed banking for 20 years and has over 85% of South Australia’s threatened flora in long-tern storage. Increasingly, the SASCC is using these collections to undertake rescue actions – a reminder we are fortunate to have two decades of seed collections to draw on. We work with the idea that our ability to take future action relies upon what we collect and bank today.