Tribute To Seeds.

The above is the seed of an Avocado fruit. When we look at a seed, we mostly look at it to crack it as is the case with many edible nuts. Some look at it to photograph it!  (As we can see ;-)) There must be few individuals who wonder about the hidden programs embedded in these marvels of nature! Every function of the plant that this seed will turn into, must be preprogrammed into it. Deciduous plants everywhere shed their leaves in Autumn without looking left and right to see what other similar plants are doing!

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the largest seed, the heavy weight champion, the Joe Frazer, George Forman, Big Show of the fruits and seed world is the Coco de Mer. Botanists of course would not just use a French word even if they have to make a Latin word, and this time a completely mistaken one! What is wrong with French? They dress the celebrities; make them smell better, their hair even more outrageous and French food never fattens you! Know why the French eat snails? Of course! They hate fast food!

Coco de Mer is simply coconut of the sea. Scientific name is Lodoicea maldivica. The first part is in honour of King Louis XV of France. His French name is what we know, this is the Latinised version. Maldivica is related to us! It was earlier thought that this double coconut, Maldive coconut or sea coconut  grew here in the Maldives. Dhevah Kaashi,  or double coconut just drifted into our waters from Seychelles.

We have always known the importance of seeds. The first migrants, “the tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to be free”( poet Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus) took nothing with them, but seeds, or skills and the will to start a better life in the New World.  When typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines in September of 2009, many people died, crop and fields destroyed but few heard of what happened to the Seed Bank of Philippines. Water (perhaps sea water) and mud up to six feet deep covered the precious seeds! Thousands of seed varieties were lost forever!

This event triggered the need for a better and safer and larger seed bank, as they say necessity is the mother of all inventions. The Norway Government,  Rockefeller Foundation, Warren Buffet and Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation all chipped in to construct the safest, remote but accessible, and the most high tech  seed bank in the world. They constructed this deep in the mountains of Svalbard in Norway about 1100 south of North Pole.( check Doomsday Seed Bank)

The Scandinavian people had experimented with preserving seeds (long before these esteemed persons joined hands)  and found out that  if preserved at -3 degrees, seeds have no issues in germinating even after being dormant for 24 years!

Thank You!