Plant story - Bulbine crassa is saved at Kew's Millennium Seed
Bank In January 2007, a seed collection of great significance
was made, as part of the joint Tasmanian Millennium Seed Bank
Partnership initiative. 01 Jan 2010 Bulbine crassa flower
(Photo: S. Harris) The plant species collected was Bulbine
crassa, a robust leek lily, collected from Neds reef in the
Furneaux islands. The significance lay in this species newness
to science – it was only described in 2006. Bulbine crassa
occurs only on a few small islands off the southern coast of
Victoria. Only a few plants were known to exist in a couple of
private gardens but no seeds had been properly curated in ex
situ collections. That is until January 2007. This was when a
team made up of representatives from several organisations set
out from Hobart to travel to the Furneaux islands to collect
seeds for the “Seed-Safe” program, the Tasmanian component of
the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership. The team boarded a large
twin hull boat which was manoeuvred toward