Cate Blanchett: You really are on the edge of South Downs. Could
Cate Blanchett: you describe it as a natural landscape or...
Ted Chapman: So, the landscape we're driving through now is not really
Ted Chapman: natural. No. So, these fields are arable fields, so they
Ted Chapman: would normally be gray cereals, but for this year, at
Ted Chapman: least they've been sown with it looks like some kind
Ted Chapman: of wild seed mix.
Cate Blanchett: I'm in a Jeep lurching over a dusty single track
Cate Blanchett: road where deep in the South Downs National Park, which
Cate Blanchett: is just beyond Brighton on England's southern coast.
Ted Chapman: Skylarks are taking advantage of that because they nest in
Ted Chapman: the ground. So, they're probably nesting.
Cate Blanchett: You can hear them outside. That's Ted Chapman behind the
Cate Blanchett: Wheel UK Conservation Partnerships Coordinator at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank
Cate Blanchett: at Wakehurst. He's also my guide for today.
Ted Chapman: So, these hills that we're driving over now are all
Ted Chapman: chalk, and the chalk is really close to the surface.
Ted Chapman: So, the soil here is only 10 or 20 centimeters deep and
Ted Chapman: that very chalky soil, very low fertility, very sharply drained,
Ted Chapman: it drains really quickly. That's really what informs the type
Ted Chapman: of vegetation that we have, and that's what makes this
Ted Chapman: habitat special because these types of soil conditions and rock
Ted Chapman: conditions are not found very commonly.
Cate Blanchett: We're heading to Castle Hill National Nature Reserve, which is
Cate Blanchett: looked after by Natural England, and I'm joining Ted and
Cate Blanchett: his team to collect wild seeds. Is this somewhere where
Cate Blanchett: you'd come see collecting a lot? Is this an annual pilgrimage?
Ted Chapman: So, we've collected a lot of seed in Castle Hill
Ted Chapman: in sites like this, because the chalk grassland supports an
Ted Chapman: exceptionally diverse flora, and many of those species are highly
Ted Chapman: specialized and quite rare. So, because we're often targeting threatened
Ted Chapman: species, we're often found in places like this.
Cate Blanchett: The MSB's central mission is to gather wild seeds from
Cate Blanchett: across the globe, preserving them to safeguard the future of
Cate Blanchett: our planet. This work focuses on species under threat around
Cate Blanchett: the world, often found in far- flung countries. However, you
Cate Blanchett: might be surprised to know that some of the species
Cate Blanchett: most in need of protection are much closer to home.
Cate Blanchett: It's just magnificent. It's so wide and open and there's a big smudge
Cate Blanchett: of red down there though poppies.
Ted Chapman: Yeah, we're going to get a close- up view of
Ted Chapman: these beautiful poppies.
Cate Blanchett: But just as important as place is time. In seed
Cate Blanchett: collecting, timing is everything. What we're hoping for today is that
Cate Blanchett: our visit coincides with the precise moment the seeds are
Cate Blanchett: ready to be gathered, so that we can follow their
Cate Blanchett: journey as they're carefully processed and then stored for safekeeping
Cate Blanchett: in the vaults of the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst.
Cate Blanchett: I am Cate Blanchett, Kew's ambassador for Wakehurst, and this
Cate Blanchett: is Unearthed: The need for seeds. Episode two, the present.
Ted Chapman: So, we need to get through this gate.
Cate Blanchett: Yeah, I can do it. It's the gate etiquette. You
Cate Blanchett: learn that in Australia very quickly. Oh, I see those
Cate Blanchett: two bars there.
Ted Chapman: So, the last thing we want is off- road bikes, off-
Ted Chapman: road vehicles coming into the reserve and destroying the habitat,
Ted Chapman: which would just happen so easily. You can imagine these
Ted Chapman: habitats takes centuries or millennia to evolve, but only seconds
Ted Chapman: to destroy.
Cate Blanchett: Yes, yeah. Gosh, there's this team flowers, isn't it?
Ted Chapman: Yeah.
Cate Blanchett: They're heavy.
Ted Chapman: They are heavier. Are you okay with that? And then you twist it at the top. That's
Ted Chapman: it. Oh, great. Okay.
Cate Blanchett: Here we go.
Ted Chapman: Okay. In we go.
Cate Blanchett: We pass through multiple gates and descend into a valley.
Cate Blanchett: It's wildly overgrown with shrubs and vegetation encroaching on the
Cate Blanchett: track. And then as we lurch around a corner, the
Cate Blanchett: tree's clear and I'm greeted with the most beautiful vista.
Cate Blanchett: Oh my goodness, this is magnificent. It looks so ancient
Cate Blanchett: because the hills are just given away to a flat
Cate Blanchett: plane. It's got a smattering of poppies. And what's the
Cate Blanchett: yellow? Is that this grass... Man, it's so beautiful. It's
Cate Blanchett: almost like someone's taken a brush with a thousand colours.
Ted Chapman: Yes, yeah. So, the reserve is on these steep hillsides
Ted Chapman: and then at the bottom of the valley, we've got
Ted Chapman: this flatter area with deeper soils. And then we've got
Ted Chapman: this wash of poppies. So, beautiful.
Cate Blanchett: Something out of The Wizard of Oz. So, if you find
Cate Blanchett: me asleep in there, rescue me.
Ted Chapman: So, the slope ahead of us is where we're going
Ted Chapman: to be doing our harvesting today. And this is Castle
Ted Chapman: Hill itself.
Cate Blanchett: You mean the green quite vertiginous- looking slope ahead of
Cate Blanchett: us that's got the...
Ted Chapman: Exactly. So, we can see-
Cate Blanchett: The strawberry on the top.
Ted Chapman: ... we've got the scrub at the top. We've got
Ted Chapman: this arable field at the bottom. We've got this slightly
Ted Chapman: flatter, rough bit in between. And that area was ploughed
Ted Chapman: in the second world war. And that's why even now,
Ted Chapman: it's still very different to the ancient short grassland, which
Ted Chapman: is on the steep slope.
Cate Blanchett: And what was attempted to be grown there?
Ted Chapman: That would've been crops for eating in that dig for
Ted Chapman: victory effort. So, these soils are with chemical fertilizers, they're
Ted Chapman: quite amenable to growing things like cereals, wheat, barley, flax.
Ted Chapman: Now that farming ceased some decades ago, but even with
Ted Chapman: decades of very careful management, you can see the grassland
Ted Chapman: at the bottom of the slope is very different to
Ted Chapman: the grasslands on the sides.
Cate Blanchett: It's really green and tufty.
Ted Chapman: Yeah. So, that is good, but we don't want too
Ted Chapman: much of that. We need a good balance.
Cate Blanchett: So, what makes this spot so special apart from its
Cate Blanchett: incredible beauty?
Ted Chapman: It's really the quality of the chalk grassland. So, we're
Ted Chapman: going to be in one of the nicest patches in
Ted Chapman: just a second. You'll see the diversity of species and they're
Ted Chapman: all tiny weeny because it's so infertile, but there are
Ted Chapman: many, many species packed in. So, we can record 40
Ted Chapman: or more species in a square metre here. So, this
Ted Chapman: is one of the most plant- diverse habitats in Western
Ted Chapman: Europe on this small scale. So, it's really special floristically
Ted Chapman: and it's of course the vegetation then supports the butterflies,
Ted Chapman: the other invertebrates, the birds that are associated with the
Ted Chapman: invertebrates and so forth. So, that's really why this is
Ted Chapman: such a special place.
Cate Blanchett: After a quick safety briefing from Ted and his colleague,
Cate Blanchett: Isabel Negri, UK Conservation projects officer at the MSB, we start
Cate Blanchett: to clamber up the hill. We wade through some tall
Cate Blanchett: grasses at the bottom, but they soon thin out. There's
Cate Blanchett: so many varieties of plants and I'm sure a myriad
Cate Blanchett: of insects all thriving underneath my feet.
Ted Chapman: We try to tread lightly in habitats like this where
Ted Chapman: we can. So, we've got into the chalk grassland. It's
Ted Chapman: very low.
Cate Blanchett: And not as dense.
Ted Chapman: Much, much less dense. And if you start looking into
Ted Chapman: the sword, you can see there are lots of different species, different
Ted Chapman: grasses, different species, and they're all little thistle there, a little bedstraw
Ted Chapman: there, all growing intermeshed, one with another. And underneath, you can
Ted Chapman: see it now looking very dry and droughty this grey soil.
Ted Chapman: That's the very chalky alkaline soil. So, this site is
Ted Chapman: grazed by cattle. Grazing is essential because without the grazing
Ted Chapman: this would revert through scrub to woodland and the grassland
Ted Chapman: would be lost. So, that sustained grazing at the right
Ted Chapman: level over centuries and centuries is what has created and
Ted Chapman: maintained this landscape.
Cate Blanchett: As Ted started pointing out different plants, I began to
Cate Blanchett: think I was getting rather good at spotting unusual species.
Cate Blanchett: I should work at the MSB.
Ted Chapman: Let's head up. We'll find... There's always so much to see.
Cate Blanchett: Yes. It's hard not to get waylaid.
Ted Chapman: Yeah.
Cate Blanchett: What's that little?
Ted Chapman: That is rabbit poo.
Cate Blanchett: Oh, great. I might put that in my pocket
Ted Chapman: So, we don't aim to collect that.
Cate Blanchett: We can use it later. Chocolate covered rabbit poo. Here I
Cate Blanchett: was, thinking I'd found a rare seed rabbit poo. Clearly,
Cate Blanchett: I'm not going to get a job at Wakehurst. After
Cate Blanchett: my identification of the rabbit poo, we continued up the
Cate Blanchett: hill making our way towards some orange markers.
Ted Chapman: So, these markers mark out where we've got a really lovely
Ted Chapman: population of yellow rattle. So, yellow rattle is what we've
Ted Chapman: come here to collect today.
Cate Blanchett: And what's so important about the yellow rattle?
Ted Chapman: So, yellow rattle is a semi- parasitic species. So, that
Ted Chapman: means it produces its own food, but it also parasitizes
Ted Chapman: other species growing with it. And that means it reduces
Ted Chapman: their vigor. And that makes it quite important in this
Ted Chapman: habitat, because it helps balance the really vigorous species against
Ted Chapman: the more delicate species and allows those more delicate species
Ted Chapman: to thrive. So, it's really very important for the kind
Ted Chapman: of function of the plants growing here.
Cate Blanchett: It's a regulator.
Ted Chapman: It's a regulator, like a community engineer almost. It's found
Ted Chapman: in a lot of grassland sites. We specifically need to
Ted Chapman: collect it now because we've used quite a lot of
Ted Chapman: the collection that we have for research work that we've
Ted Chapman: done looking at the germination needs of this species. So,
Ted Chapman: yellow rattle is actually a species which has a very
Ted Chapman: narrow temperature window in which it can germinate. And so,
Ted Chapman: we've done some work and Isabel has been involved in
Ted Chapman: this to work out exactly what the minimum and maximum
Ted Chapman: temperature range that yellow rattle needs. And then we model
Ted Chapman: that against climate change. So, we think in 50 years'
Ted Chapman: time, will the climate still provide the conditions that yellow
Ted Chapman: rattle and other species need to germinate? So, many species
Ted Chapman: are resilient and they will be able to regenerate successfully
Ted Chapman: in a warm climate. But yellow rattle is an example
Ted Chapman: of a species which is quite vulnerable, because it needs
Ted Chapman: cold winter conditions to break dormancy and germinate. So, it's
Ted Chapman: important to understand that and start thinking about how we
Ted Chapman: can manage grasslands and restoration projects to counter that and
Ted Chapman: build adaptation and make sure this particularly important species survives.
Ted Chapman: So, we've used seed to support that research, so we
Ted Chapman: need to replenish that seed in the seed bank. So, we've got it
Ted Chapman: for next time. So, the first thing we're going to
Ted Chapman: do is find similar rattle and take a look at
Ted Chapman: it. Some specimens here.
Cate Blanchett: It's got a sort of a reddish brown stem with almost like
Cate Blanchett: two little pods, green pods.
Ted Chapman: That's right. Yeah. Will it rattle? That's the seed rattling
Ted Chapman: around and that's how it gets its name.
Cate Blanchett: So, you want to collect them when they're dried?
Ted Chapman: Exactly right. So, we want to collect seed at the
Ted Chapman: point of natural dispersal. So, that's when it's being dispersed
Ted Chapman: into the environment. That's when it's mature, it's when its
Ted Chapman: longevity. So, the amount of time it will be able to
Ted Chapman: survive in the seed bank is at its greatest.
Cate Blanchett: It struck me as almost paradoxical that we were gathering
Cate Blanchett: seeds from the very habitat where I just learned how
Cate Blanchett: vital they are as nature's own community engineers. But Ted
Cate Blanchett: and his team work by a clear principle. You never
Cate Blanchett: take more than 20% of the seeds in the field.
Cate Blanchett: Each of the pods are filled with tiny seeds. And
Cate Blanchett: so, our collection begins with some counting.
Ted Chapman: Okay, I make that 25 in my patch.
Cate Blanchett: There's quite a lot here actually.
Isabel Negri: How many did you find?
Cate Blanchett: I think about between 35 and 40 in a square meter.
Isabel Negri: Oh.
Ted Chapman: Okay. Yeah, we average at about 20 plants per square meter.
Cate Blanchett: And a little bit of maths.
Ted Chapman: I've crunched the numbers and I can tell you that
Ted Chapman: we have approximately 1. 4 million seeds in our sampling
Ted Chapman: area here of yellow rattle.
Cate Blanchett: Yeah, down.
Ted Chapman: There's always tonnes more seed than you think there is.
Cate Blanchett: And just before we start collecting, there's one more important step.
Ted Chapman: If you've got some seed in your hand, Isabel-
Isabel Negri: Yes.
Ted Chapman: ... shall we see if we can do a cut test?
Isabel Negri: Yeah. I'll pass it to Kate. There you go.
Cate Blanchett: A cut test is used to determine whether the seeds
Cate Blanchett: are of good quality.
Ted Chapman: So, I'm going to give you the tools of the
Ted Chapman: trade. So, some snips, just watch yourself.
Cate Blanchett: Little, they're very sharp scissors.
Ted Chapman: And so, the question is, can you grip that seed
Ted Chapman: in the end of your fingertips? Carefully slice off the top.
Cate Blanchett: Am I going into the dark part of the seed?
Ted Chapman: In the dark part, yeah, right through the middle. Nice. And then I'll give you that
Ted Chapman: lens. And then if you hold up joy and then
Ted Chapman: have a look, see if you can see-
Cate Blanchett: Oh gosh.
Ted Chapman: ... anything white and flowery in there.
Cate Blanchett: Well, on the edge of the seed, there's a tiny bit
Cate Blanchett: of... It almost looks like someone's moved to a white pencil
Cate Blanchett: along the edge of it.
Ted Chapman: That's probably what it will look like is like...
Cate Blanchett: Do you want to check?
Ted Chapman: It will look like a little white,
Cate Blanchett: Little tiny little dots. You see?
Ted Chapman: So, that's the end of sperm of the seed. It's its
Ted Chapman: food store. So, sometimes we can also see the embryo,
Ted Chapman: which is the little seedling waiting to come out. And if we
Ted Chapman: can see those things, it gives a clue that the seed
Ted Chapman: has got the potential to germinate. We don't know if
Ted Chapman: it definitely will, but it potentially could. If it's empty
Ted Chapman: or moldy or there's a grub, then we know it's
Ted Chapman: not good. So, the cut test is a really important
Ted Chapman: way we go about in the field just assessing the
Ted Chapman: likely quality of the seed. Yep. That seed's good. Yep.
Ted Chapman: So, yellow rattles, it's a very thin seed.
Cate Blanchett: Yes. And the bulk of it's dark.
Ted Chapman: And the bulk of it's dark. But those white flowery bits tell me that that
Ted Chapman: seed is good. So, we've cut tested five in total,
Ted Chapman: four of which were good and one of which was
Ted Chapman: not good. So, we could say for the purposes of
Ted Chapman: our collection today, that about 80% of the seed here
Ted Chapman: is full and good. So, what I would do now
Ted Chapman: is I'm going to take my 1. 4 million seeds
Ted Chapman: in this whole population. I'm going to work out 80%
Ted Chapman: of that. So, you've got 1, 120,000 approximately good seed
Ted Chapman: in the population. But our absolute maximum that we could
Ted Chapman: collect here is only 20% of that seed, which is 224,
Ted Chapman: 000 seed. So, there's tons of seed here. We don't
Ted Chapman: need worry about depleting the natural population.
Cate Blanchett: Over one million seeds are available here, an astonishing number.
Ted Chapman: To make our conservation collection, we're going to want to
Ted Chapman: get 25 heads each because there are three of us
Ted Chapman: collecting today. So, we're pretty much ready to go.
Cate Blanchett: We fan out, walking slowly, each of us following our
Cate Blanchett: own line in parallel with one another gathering as we go.
Ted Chapman: We're walking towards that orange marker. It's fine if we
Ted Chapman: wave around a little bit. It doesn't have to be
Ted Chapman: a dead straight line, but it just means that we'll
Ted Chapman: cover the whole area between us.
Cate Blanchett: This is when seed collecting gets competitive. I'm trying to
Cate Blanchett: get a lot of heads. There we go.
Isabel Negri: Don't be tempted to just collect the pretty ones.
Ted Chapman: No.
Isabel Negri: You want the ugly ones too.
Cate Blanchett: No, that's a different one. Yeah, it hasn't got so
Cate Blanchett: many heads on it. These ones are really rattley. I
Cate Blanchett: may have felt slightly competitive, but ultimately, this is a
Cate Blanchett: team sport.
Ted Chapman: You've actually done it.
Cate Blanchett: Have I?
Ted Chapman: How many have you got?
Isabel Negri: I think I've got about 25.
Ted Chapman: Okay. All right.
Cate Blanchett: I think I've got about 13.
Ted Chapman: Okay.
Cate Blanchett: Do I get the job?
Ted Chapman: Yeah.
Cate Blanchett: The yellow rattle heads are scooped up into a bag,
Cate Blanchett: carefully labeled and a specimen is pressed. This part of
Cate Blanchett: the process is now complete. So, once we've collected the
Cate Blanchett: seeds, what happens now? Where do we go? Where do
Cate Blanchett: these little seeds travel?
Ted Chapman: So, those seeds would be returned as quickly as possible
Ted Chapman: to the drying room at the Millennium Seed Bank. And
Ted Chapman: that's where they'll start their drying and can begin their
Ted Chapman: journey through being cleaned and tested and ultimately banked.
Cate Blanchett: Come on little seeds. Later, I'll be going inside the
Cate Blanchett: MSB to see what happens to the seeds when they
Cate Blanchett: arrive at Wakehurst. Collections like this are essential to the
Cate Blanchett: work of the Millennium Seed Bank, but they're carried out
Cate Blanchett: not just on its doorstep, but also in collaboration with
Cate Blanchett: partner organisations all over the world. With a global network
Cate Blanchett: across nearly 100 countries, the MSB works with experts to
Cate Blanchett: help inform projects that will save biodiversity in myriad places.
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: I am Nattanit Yiamthaisong. I am a PhD student in Chiang
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: Mai University. I'm working with FORRU, which is Forest Restoration Research
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: Unit or in Thai name we call, Nuay Wichai Fuenfu Pa. FORRU and
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: MSB is like we are the partnership for collaboration around more
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: than 25 years. FORRU do the research about the restoration
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: and we collect the seeds for sent to the MSB and I
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: am the small part in the team for collect the seeds to send
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: it here.
Cate Blanchett: Nattanit is spending three months at the MSB as part
Cate Blanchett: of her PhD studying how varying temperatures influence seed germination.
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: We want to know if the climate change or the global warming in the
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: future, the temperature will increase is maybe effect with the seed
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: and germination of the seed. We want to know if
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: the temperature increases effect with the seed or not. For two species from Thailand
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: in different temperature from five to 45 degrees Celsius.
Cate Blanchett: She has come to the Millennium Seed Bank to access
Cate Blanchett: equipment she doesn't have in Thailand.
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: I would like to learn about everything here because everything
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: is new thing for me. In Thailand, we have a
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: lot of limitation because we don't have enough incubator, we
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: don't have enough machine to handle with the seed. Then I have
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: to come here to use the facility, use the machine
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: here. It's like a x- ray machine, aspirator or the incubator
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: that I have to germinate the seed. After I finished
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: the germination here, I have to analyze it in Thailand.
Cate Blanchett: Nattanit's research allows us to understand how different seed species
Cate Blanchett: respond to shifting temperatures. Knowledge that could guide us in
Cate Blanchett: choosing the right seeds to use for future restoration. Her
Cate Blanchett: work was made possible by an MSB project called the
Cate Blanchett: Western Global Tree Seed Bank. Nattanit says that their funding
Cate Blanchett: has inspired and opened new doors for her career.
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: The scholarship or the fund for the student is so
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: good for Thai student or every student who do the
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: research for approve the research and for learn the new things. And
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: everyone here is so nice. I like everything here. And the
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: machine is so good, it's so new. I think the
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: MSB and the Seed Bank is like a treasure in the future for everyone. It's like a
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: hope for everyone in the future, because we don't know what
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: happened in the future, right? If we have the result
Nattanit Yiamthaisong: in my hand, we can do anything in the future.
Cate Blanchett: Once collected, the seeds must be carefully processed to ensure
Cate Blanchett: that they survive in the seed bank so that researchers
Cate Blanchett: both here at Wakehurst and around the world can use them
Cate Blanchett: for study or habitat restoration. It's a meticulous and time-
Cate Blanchett: consuming process. So, not many people get to do this.
Cate Blanchett: I've been invited inside the lab in the Millennium Seed
Cate Blanchett: Bank to get a better understanding of how the seeds
Cate Blanchett: are actually banked. And showing me around is seed curator,
Cate Blanchett: Sian McCabe. Hello, Sian.
Sian McCabe: Hi, nice to meet you.
Cate Blanchett: Hi. Hey, hey. Can you explain what are we going
Cate Blanchett: to do today? Oh, is that to clean my feet?
Sian McCabe: Yeah, yeah. Just to make sure you're not bringing any-
Cate Blanchett: There we go.
Sian McCabe: ... outdoor.
Cate Blanchett: Everything's nice and squeaky clean. Biosecurity is important at the MSB. So,
Cate Blanchett: I slip on a lab coat. Very official.
Sian McCabe: This is where the magic happens. We've stepped into the cleaning
Sian McCabe: lab, the space where every single seed is carefully freed
Sian McCabe: from dust and debris and seeds that are empty or
Sian McCabe: infested are removed. But before they're cleaned, there's a very
Sian McCabe: important stop they have to make.
Cate Blanchett: So, this looks like a freezer, but it's more like
Cate Blanchett: a sauna.
Sian McCabe: So, it's 18 degrees Celsius and 15% relative humidity. And
Sian McCabe: this is really important because with every 1% a seed
Sian McCabe: is dried, it can double the lifespan of the seed.
Cate Blanchett: And then what do you do with say, a recalcitrant
Cate Blanchett: seed? So, the seeds that won't withstand the drying process.
Sian McCabe: Yep. So, we have other different humidity rooms. So, this
Sian McCabe: one is at 70%, so we...
Cate Blanchett: Quite a big difference humidity.
Sian McCabe: So, yeah.
Cate Blanchett: Sian told me that 90% of the seeds collected are
Cate Blanchett: what we call orthodox. And those orthodox seeds can withstand
Cate Blanchett: normal drying and freezing processes. The remaining 10% can't.
Sian McCabe: We know not to put them into the dry room
Sian McCabe: and to treat them regarding...
Cate Blanchett: And what's an example of a non- orthodox seed like that?
Sian McCabe: They tend to be food, so quite yummy. So, we've
Sian McCabe: got avocado and I wouldn't recommend eating it, but acorns
Sian McCabe: are recalcitrant. So, they're just a few examples. So, there's
Sian McCabe: the door.
Cate Blanchett: Okay.
Sian McCabe: And this is the airlock area.
Cate Blanchett: Ooh. Through double airlock doors, we move into a cool
Cate Blanchett: unassuming room with every corner stacked and packed with crates.
Sian McCabe: So, we need to make sure that door's shut, that's it,
Sian McCabe: before opening this one to protect our seeds.
Cate Blanchett: Like Star Wars.
Sian McCabe: Yeah, if you just push it.
Cate Blanchett: It resembles a supermarket store room. Yet here, I'm surrounded
Cate Blanchett: by seeds from all over the world. There's lots of
Cate Blanchett: plastic storage trays and there's some seeds in envelopes of
Cate Blanchett: South Africa, Sierra Leone, Georgia, Madagascar, they're from all over.
Cate Blanchett: Greece, Ghana, Mozambique. Goodness.
Sian McCabe: Yeah, all these crates to the right are ready to
Sian McCabe: clean and to process.
Cate Blanchett: Given that you've got so many seeds, I mean they
Cate Blanchett: all obviously need to drive for different amounts of time.
Cate Blanchett: That's quite a complicated thing to matter.
Sian McCabe: Yeah. Yeah, we have species that are super short- lived,
Sian McCabe: so they're outlined at the beginning. And with some seeds,
Sian McCabe: like with the orchid seeds, we come in, we have to process within
Sian McCabe: two weeks to keep the seeds alive and well. But
Sian McCabe: with most orthodox non- short lived seeds, six months seems
Sian McCabe: because we have really big seeds that will take longer
Sian McCabe: to drive. So, the default position of these collections are
Sian McCabe: in the dry room. And when we get out to
Sian McCabe: process them and after each process, they'll go back here
Sian McCabe: to re- dry.
Cate Blanchett: Once the seeds are fully dried, the next step is
Cate Blanchett: to clean them. Oh, there's a rack of metal. They
Cate Blanchett: look like film canisters, but they're not.
Sian McCabe: Yeah.
Cate Blanchett: What goes on here.
Sian McCabe: So, these are sieves. So, similar to what you'd have
Sian McCabe: in your kitchen, but they're all different pore sizes. So,
Sian McCabe: we go from the small this end. So, you can
Sian McCabe: see here that it's a very fine mesh.
Cate Blanchett: So, that's for something like dust particle seeds like the
Cate Blanchett: orchid I imagine?
Sian McCabe: Yeah, exactly.
Cate Blanchett: Wow, I can't imagine how... it feels so solid. How
Cate Blanchett: could anything go through there?
Sian McCabe: Yeah, it's sometimes to save the seeds above it and
Sian McCabe: then the dust falls behind. And then we have the larger
Sian McCabe: ones at this end. This is for the big tree seeds,
Sian McCabe: and this is what we use to get most of
Sian McCabe: the bulk from the collection to separate the seeds and the debris.
Cate Blanchett: There's a more high- tech solution too. This looks like
Cate Blanchett: something in a fun arcade.
Sian McCabe: This machine is called an aspirator, and that uses airflow
Sian McCabe: to separate the light parts of the collection to the
Sian McCabe: heavy part.
Cate Blanchett: Looks like you put a coin in and it will travel all the
Cate Blanchett: way along. There's a almost like a big slide. There's
Cate Blanchett: an opening in the top, goes into a slot, then
Cate Blanchett: it goes along a strange convoluted journey bit. It's a
Cate Blanchett: bit like a pinball machine. Is that to shake things
Cate Blanchett: off the seed or...
Sian McCabe: Yeah. So, here's the chute. So, it's a bit like
Sian McCabe: a funnel. We'll just turn it down so the seeds
Sian McCabe: don't escape.
Cate Blanchett: So, you're popping the seeds in the top, like peppercorns.
Sian McCabe: There we go. So, in theory, the heavy parts are the
Sian McCabe: good full seeds and the light parts are the debris
Sian McCabe: and the empty seeds. So, the light empty seeds get
Sian McCabe: exposed to the airflow and fly over to the right-
Sian McCabe: hand side.
Cate Blanchett: Down the pinball machine sheet.
Sian McCabe: Yeah. And then the heavy seeds fall down.
Cate Blanchett: And that's done with air.
Sian McCabe: So, this button, you turn right to vary the vibrations
Sian McCabe: of the plate to move the seeds along.
Cate Blanchett: So, they're bouncing off the side of that chute and
Cate Blanchett: then bouncing off it, that's shaking.
Sian McCabe: You can see some bits of debris flying over onto
Sian McCabe: the right-hand.
Cate Blanchett: I see the air takes the light debris up and down.
Sian McCabe: So, we've got manual sieving, and this is a more high-
Sian McCabe: tech version. And then the very low- tech version is
Sian McCabe: we have a rubber mat and a rubber glove.
Cate Blanchett: Once the seeds have been cleaned, they are x- rayed
Cate Blanchett: to assess their quality. I hadn't really thought before that
Cate Blanchett: a seed could actually be x- rayed.
Sian McCabe: After cleaning, it's really good to see inside of the seed
Sian McCabe: to see whether there's still any empty seeds or invested
Sian McCabe: seeds. As you can see in this image, we have
Sian McCabe: a few different seeds. So, here, you can see the
Sian McCabe: embryo. So, this is the endosperm surrounding the seed. And
Sian McCabe: this is...
Cate Blanchett: Tiny little thing.
Sian McCabe: This is what's going to hopefully turn it into a plant.
Sian McCabe: So, we have some really bright white images of seeds,
Sian McCabe: which means that it's a solid, lovely, full content. But
Sian McCabe: here, can you see...
Cate Blanchett: It's like a dark shadow in the middle
Sian McCabe: It's a maggot.
Cate Blanchett: Oh. It's a maggot?
Sian McCabe: Yes.
Cate Blanchett: You've got three maggots in that batch?
Sian McCabe: Yep, but the problem with maggots is when it comes
Sian McCabe: to cleaning, if you think back to the aspirator that
Sian McCabe: it's all based on weight difference. So, we can't necessarily
Sian McCabe: clean out this collection because the weight of a seed with
Sian McCabe: a maggot in weighs a similar amount to a full
Sian McCabe: seed. So, we try our best, but the maggots are
Sian McCabe: usually not with us after six months of drying.
Cate Blanchett: After being x- rayed, the seeds are counted and then
Cate Blanchett: taken underground to the vaults, the seed bank itself. Downstairs?
Sian McCabe: Yes.
Cate Blanchett: Sian leads me there next, descending a steep metal spiral
Cate Blanchett: staircase to arrive at the heart of the building concealed
Cate Blanchett: behind a thick metal door. So, this is the door
Cate Blanchett: of the vault.
Sian McCabe: This is the door of...
Cate Blanchett: And that is the longest key I've ever seen in my life.
Sian McCabe: Say about 10, 15 centimeters long.
Cate Blanchett: I would say it is.
Sian McCabe: So, we just need to open the very heavy door. Welcome
Sian McCabe: in. This is actually the most biodiverse place in the world.
Cate Blanchett: In this very room?
Sian McCabe: Yeah, because we have so many species in.
Cate Blanchett: So, are these technically called the vaults?
Sian McCabe: Yeah, these are the vaults where their seeds are kept
Sian McCabe: at minus 20.
Cate Blanchett: Oh my goodness. It is absolutely freezing in here. Arctic.
Cate Blanchett: It feels so alien. Almost like an old- fashioned library.
Cate Blanchett: You're expecting library cards to be pulled out from these
Cate Blanchett: metal trays. But along the right- hand side from meters
Cate Blanchett: and meters and meters are a whole lot of preserving
Cate Blanchett: jars, which look like the ones that I've got at
Cate Blanchett: home in my pantry.
Sian McCabe: Yeah. So, the pickling jars are actually the best glass
Sian McCabe: jars that we have.
Cate Blanchett: And on the right- hand side, ooh, it's really icy.
Cate Blanchett: On this side here, they almost look like tiny little
Cate Blanchett: medicine or pill bottles.
Sian McCabe: Yeah.
Cate Blanchett: And so, some seeds are stored in the preserving jars
Cate Blanchett: and some?
Sian McCabe: It all depends on the size of the collection. I
Sian McCabe: can show you some examples in the warmer.
Cate Blanchett: So, that's minus 20?
Sian McCabe: Yeah, minus 20.
Cate Blanchett: I've been cold dipping, but really that is quite cold.
Cate Blanchett: And how many times a day do you go in there?
Sian McCabe: Probably once or twice a week, but we had a
Sian McCabe: fluffy hat with ears on to protect us, two gloves
Sian McCabe: and a really big coat that makes me look 10
Sian McCabe: times the size.
Cate Blanchett: But not all the seeds remain here locked away indefinitely.
Sian McCabe: When our seeds are ready to bank, we separate them
Sian McCabe: into two parts. So, we have an active part. That's
Sian McCabe: the parts that gets used for germination testing and for
Sian McCabe: research and for restoration. And then the other part, which
Sian McCabe: is the base just gets left there because we're not
Sian McCabe: sure. And taking seeds in and out of the bank
Sian McCabe: too often, we don't want to compromise the quality of a
Sian McCabe: collection. So, these are all glass. So, it's really nice
Sian McCabe: to see the seeds, but we're moving more onto these
Sian McCabe: foil bags.
Cate Blanchett: Taking up less space.
Sian McCabe: And if you drop them accidentally, they don't break.
Cate Blanchett: But these new bags that you've got, look a little
Cate Blanchett: bit like my daughter got some astronaut's ice cream.
Sian McCabe: Oh, yeah.
Cate Blanchett: That was look like it came into one of those pancakes.
Sian McCabe: Yeah, this is exactly it. So, it's a thick foil
Sian McCabe: sachet that we heat seal. So, yeah, exactly what they
Sian McCabe: have in space.
Cate Blanchett: Storing the seeds is one thing, but the team here
Cate Blanchett: must also ensure that they can be brought back to
Cate Blanchett: life revived as fully fledged plants when needed. Just as
Cate Blanchett: we heard in episode one, after the fires in South
Cate Blanchett: Australia, this process begins just a few months after the
Cate Blanchett: seeds are first banked and then is repeated at 5-
Cate Blanchett: or 10- year intervals. It is a meticulous and monumental
Cate Blanchett: task.
Sian McCabe: You ready for the heat?
Cate Blanchett: Oh, and here we are.
Sian McCabe: So, this is our germination lab.
Cate Blanchett: Oh, wow. The smell is really, it's very strong, very earthy.
Cate Blanchett: You can tell things are growing in here. You can really smell
Cate Blanchett: the soil. These ones are growing, the clappers. Those ones are massive. They almost look like
Cate Blanchett: cockroaches, and those ones almost look like a moldy chocolate.
Cate Blanchett: They're very strange and the shape of them is really
Cate Blanchett: varied because normally, you think about a seed as looking uniform.
Sian McCabe: Yeah, a bit like humans. Even though we are the same
Sian McCabe: species, we all look a bit different, don't we?
Cate Blanchett: Really?
Sian McCabe: So, yeah.
Cate Blanchett: We're surrounded by Petri dishes filled with germinating seeds. Tiny
Cate Blanchett: emerging plants of every shape and size. Some are gnarled,
Cate Blanchett: like potato roots, others almost otherworldly like something from science
Cate Blanchett: fiction. The lab simulates day and night, 12 hours of
Cate Blanchett: UV light followed by 12 hours of darkness. What's this
Cate Blanchett: one here?
Sian McCabe: So, this is a goat willow from Scotland. And as
Sian McCabe: you can see, it's got really good germination. So, you
Sian McCabe: can see the part that's coming out from the seed
Sian McCabe: is what we call a radical. And the cotyledons, which
Sian McCabe: are the first leads coming out. And this is really
Sian McCabe: good because Salix, the goat willow, it's supposed to be
Sian McCabe: super short- lived, but this has been in our bank
Sian McCabe: since 2019. So, this is five years after checking to
Sian McCabe: check it's still alive-
Cate Blanchett: It's still doing.
Sian McCabe: ... and it's still alive.
Cate Blanchett: And so, now that all of these little goat willows
Cate Blanchett: have germinated, will any of those get planted out?
Sian McCabe: Only if they're needed for identification purposes or restoration purposes.
Cate Blanchett: Thank you. Thanks so much. I've had the privilege of going inside
Cate Blanchett: the working spaces of the MSB and of witnessing the seed's
Cate Blanchett: journey from collection to germination. But this is not a
Cate Blanchett: world hidden away. Anyone visiting Wakehurst can step into the
Cate Blanchett: atrium here at the Millennium Seed Bank, peer into the
Cate Blanchett: labs, and even look down at the vault door. What
Cate Blanchett: really strikes me is how these tiny, fragile beginnings hold
Cate Blanchett: such extraordinary promise. I mean, each sprouting seed is a
Cate Blanchett: quiet guardian of our future, a small, but vital piece
Cate Blanchett: of the puzzle protecting our planet. Join me next time
Cate Blanchett: as we look forward to the future these seeds may
Cate Blanchett: protect to the vision driving the final chapter of our
Cate Blanchett: story and the innovative science behind it. This is Unearthed:
Cate Blanchett: The need for seeds. Please follow us wherever you find
Cate Blanchett: your podcasts. And hey, leave us a review so others
Cate Blanchett: can find us too. And I invite you to join
Cate Blanchett: me in supporting the vital work of the Millennium Seed
Cate Blanchett: Bank by making a donation today. You can just click
Cate Blanchett: the link in the episode description to learn more. Until
Cate Blanchett: next time, thanks for listening.