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TOPIC: worlds oldest tree seed to germinate
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/4bd4a1285075f31d?hl=en
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== 1 of 5 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 16 2008 7:22 am
From: ForestRuss@aol.com


ENTS:

Here is an interesting link about 2,000 year old tree seeds.

Russ

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14125-jesusera-date-is-the-oldest-seed-to-germinate.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news3_head_dn14125

== 3 of 5 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 16 2008 7:55 am
From: James Parton


ENTS,

I just wonder how that seed kept from drying out over two millenia?
Or maybe drying out does not hurt it. Dehydrated. Just add water....

JP

== 4 of 5 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 16 2008 10:12 am
From: DON BERTOLETTE


Just think, a 2000 year old date...

== 5 of 5 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 16 2008 4:13 pm
From: "Edward Frank"


Russ,

Here are a couple of interesting links"

http://nature.ca/discover/treasures/plnts/tr1/lup_e.cfm 
Arctic Lupine, Lupinus arcticus
Amazing Story!


This Arctic lupine grew from a 10,000- year-old seed!

In 1967, Canadian Museum of Nature staff proved that 10,000 year-old seeds of Lupinus arcticus could germinate and produce normal, healthy plants!

An incredible series of events led to this discovery, starting in 1954, when Harold Schmidt, a Yukon mining engineer, discovered rodent burrows three to six metres below the surface of the frozen silt common to the area near Miller Creek.

Within the well-preserved tunnels he found remnants of a nest, dung, a skull, a skeleton and about 20 seeds. He told a number of local people about his find, and put the seeds in a dry place.

There they stayed for twelve years, until one of Nature's paleontologists, Dick Harington, heard about them while doing fieldwork in the area. He brought the tunnel contents back to Ottawa, where he showed the seeds (many of which seemed perfectly preserved) to botanists Erling Porsild of the museum and Gerry Mulligan of the Department of Agriculture.

Dick Harington examined a lot of evidence and inferred that the rodent burrows and their contents were probably about 10,000 years old. Other research on the contents of the burrows revealed that the rodents were collared lemmings, Dicrostonyx groenlandicus.

This discovery led to another question: since lemming burrows would normally be poorly ventilated, leading to damp and mold, how could seeds remain preserved in such a tunnel for 10,000 years? Dick and his colleagues thought that perhaps a catastrophic event, like a landslide or even a volcano, had sealed the tunnels in spring or early summer before the ground thawed, leaving the contents frozen and dry for 10 millennia!

The two botanists decided to see whether the seeds were still viable (able to grow into plants). The best-preserved seeds were put on wet filter paper and within 48 hours, they germinated! Six young plants were eventually transferred to pots, and all of them grew into healthy Lupinus arcticus specimens.

The germination experiment was as exciting for the botanists as it was for paleontologists, because no one had ever germinated seeds that old before, or even close. The previous record was for seeds of the sacred lotus (Nelumbium nuciferum) that were a paltry 2,000 years old.

But sourdough miners aren't convinced that these were the first 10,000 year-old seeds ever germinated -- they think that a number of plant species that grow from time to time in Alaska and Yukon grow from ancient seeds brought to the surface by their mining. Scientists think that these plants are probably "pioneer" species, or species that grow on freshly disturbed soil. Nonetheless, one species of yellow cress, Roripa barbareaefolia, seems to occur only in placer mining districts, and only from time to time. So who knows? Maybe the sourdough miners are right!

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World's Oldest Seed to germinate

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0601.htm#oldseed 

There are several documented records for the oldest viable seeds. The most recent record (June 2005) is the seed of a date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) that was discovered during an archaeological excavation at King Herod's Palace on Mount Masada near the Dead Sea. Nicknamed "Methuselah" the palm that sprouted from this ancient seed has been Carbon-dated at about 2,000 years old. Since date palms are dioecious, it is not known whether the palm is male or female. Another seed viability record is the Asian water lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) in which a seed from China was successfully germinated after 1,200 years. But the world's record is the seed of an Arctic lupine (Lupinus arcticus) that was excavated from a lemming burrow in frozen Arctic tundra. The seed germinated and flowered after an estimated 10,000 years of dormancy. The latter record was not mentioned in the MSNBC Online Technology & Science article about a 2,000-year-old date palm seed, so perhaps the 10,000-year-old Arctic lupine is questionable.