The oldest known seed came from a North American Arctic lupin ( a garden plant with long spikes of flowers). It was found in 1954, buried in frozen silt near Miller Creek in central Yukon, Canada, by a mining engineer named Schmidt
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It had been there for 10,000 years. Yet, when scientists planted it, a plant grew which was identical to the modern plant. Modern seed banks keep stocks of seeds in similarly cold, dry conditions so that rare plants are assured of a future.