Victorian Conservation Seed Bank

The Victorian Conservation Seedbank is located at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne Gardens. It is the Victorian representative institution of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership and affiliate of international Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, an initiative of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom. The Victorian Conservation Seedbank aims to collect high-quality seeds from native plant species within Victoria for long-term storage, research and restoration programs. The project mainly targets seed from rare or threatened species, particularly those identified as being at risk from global warming (e.g. alpine and shallow-aquatic species), those species found only in Victoria (endemics), and those that are critical ('keystone species') for threatened Victorian plant communities.
As well as the seed collection, pressed herbarium specimens (vouchers) of each species are also collected. Duplicates of both seeds and herbarium specimens are sent to Kew Gardens, in the UK and sometimes to other botanical institutions. Individual seed collections are obtained from a single population at one site only, and detailed site and population information is obtained at the time of collection.