[pbs] Capetown and seeds, but not about bulbs
Joe Shaw
jshaw at opuntiads.com
Thu Nov 16 19:13:01 EST 2006
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://www.southafrica-travel.net/westcape/cato_03.htm
LINK: BBC News, Seeds 200 years old breathe again
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5361396.stm
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://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/cape_floristic/
Cordially,
Joe
Conroe TX
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