The Seed Bank in the Botanical Garden of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) in Powsin stores seeds of rare, endangered and protected species of Polish plants. It is the first bank of this type in Europe to collect crops under cryogenic conditions that retain the properties of the seeds for up to several thousand years.       

Currently, the bank stores seeds from 256 plant species represented by approximately 850 samples. This material was placed in liquid nitrogen vapors at a temperature of about -160ºC in special tanks. In such conditions, it can remain viable for several hundred or even several thousand years thanks to the maximum slowing of the processes of aging of seeds – explains Dr Anna Rucińska from the Department of Conservation Botany, head of the Seed Bank and the Cryopreservation Laboratory of the Botanical Garden of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Powsin.

The material secured at the Seed Bank is ultimately intended to restore the species to natural conditions. Such an undertaking has been carried out in the last two years. The project is co-financed by the European Union Cohesion Fund. The Seed Bank of the Polish Academy of Sciences recreated the extinct populations of the bellflower in the Kampinos National Park.