A Tale of Sturdy Seeds Jan Teerlink was a Dutch merchant returning to Europe in 1803 after visiting Asia on a trading trip. His ship, the Henriette, stopped in Capetown, South Africa for a fortnight and Teerlink went ashore. He acquired friends, artifacts, and other items; among his Capetown-collected booty were seeds of 32 plant species. Based upon his notes and the seed packages, it seems likely he acquired them at the garden of the Dutch East India Company. The stage for the garden was set in 1652 when Jan van Fiebeeck and his colleagues at the Dutch East India Company established a way station for ships coming and going to Asia. By the early 19th Century the Dutch East India Company gardens at Capetown were an important repository of fynbos plants, those special plants from the Cape floristic province. Though it has changed in size, scope and mission over the past few centuries, parts of the original garden remain; they are known as the Company Gardens. Thus, in 1803, Jan Teerlink is thought to have acquired his seeds from the Capetown gardens of the Dutch East India Company. After setting out from Capetown for Europe, the Henriette was interdicted by British ships. This was during the Napoleonic Wars when the Netherlands was controlled by France; the occupied state was known as the Batavian Republic. War between Great Britain and France was in one of the "on again" phases in 1803; therefore, when the Henriette (a citizen of the France-controlled Batavian Republic) was taken prisoner. His fate is unclear but his belongings were seized and transferred to the British officials. Inside Teerlink's notebook were seeds of 32 different plant species that he had collected in during his stay in Capetown. It is not clear how they were stored for most of the past 200 years, but for a time they were placed in the Tower of London. Eventually the notebook and its contents were returned to the Netherlands where they were found a few years ago in the Dutch National Archies, nestled between the pages of the notebook. Based upon carbon dating studies the age of the seeds is clearly about 200 years old. Scientists at the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew decided to try and germinate the seeds. Three species have been germinated successfully! After 200 years, and not so perfect storage, some of the seeds were viable. One might suppose that seed storage could be enhanced by time aboard ships or in the Tower of London. Or perhaps it can be supposed that the best seeds are collected by Dutch traders. LINK: Dutch East India Garden, Capetown http://southafrica-travel.net/westcape/… LINK: BBC News, Seeds 200 years old breathe again http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/… LINK: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Press Release http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/press/archive_seeds.html LINK: News Article; 50connect.co.uk http://tinyurl.com/yd57dy/ LINK: Millennium Seed Bank http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/msbp/ LINK: Cape floristic province http://biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/… Cordially, Joe Conroe TX