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The Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst

A wild flower meadow leading down to a wide single story building with 5 curved roof sections and a greenhouse at the end
The Wellcome Trust Millennium Building at Wakehurst, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (Photo: Wolfgang Stuppy).

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank is housed in the Wellcome Trust Millennium Building (WTMB). The facilities opened in 2000, and are located at Wakehurst Place in West Sussex. It is an integral part of the visitor experience, together with the Mansion and gardens.

The large underground vault of the Millennium Seed Bank provides space to store thousands of seed samples. As well as this the WTMB includes advanced seed research and processing facilities and an exhibition about seed conservation.

The exhibition area is housed in the Orange Room, which is located between the two laboratory wings. The public can observe seed research and conservation in action in the laboratories, which are visible through glass walls.

Wellcome Trust Millennium Building,
Wakehurst,
Ardingly,
Haywards Heath,
Sussex,
RH17 6TN

The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP) network

Coloured world map highlighting countries and territories with currently active MSBP partners
Map of currently active partner countries and territories (November 2021). Note: Countries and territories highlighted in this map are listed in the partner table. Map produced using the rworldmap package (South, 2016) in R (R Core Development Team, 2020).

Partners

Currently active MSBP partners listed alphabetically by Country/Territory
Continental Region* Country or Territory Partner
Asia-Temperate Armenia Nature Heritage NGO
Australasia Australia The Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens Incorporated
Australasia Australia The Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, on behalf of George Brown Darwin Botanic Garden
Australasia Australia Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney - The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan
Australasia Australia Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, South Australia
Asia-Temperate Azerbaijan Institute of Botany, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences
Asia-Tropical Bhutan National Biodiversity Centre
Southern America Colombia Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt
Asia-Temperate China Guangxi Institute of Botany
Asia-Temperate China Chinese Academy of Sciences
Africa Ethiopia Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute
Pacific Fiji The Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Asia-Temperate Georgia National Botanic Garden of Georgia
Asia-Temperate Georgia Institute of Botany of Ilia State University
Asia-Tropical India Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden & Research Institute of Sciences
Asia-Tropical Indonesia Center for Plant Conservation and Botanic Gardens, Indonesian Institute of Sciences
Asia-Tropical Indonesia Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences
Asia-Temperate Israel Israel Plant Gene Bank, part of Plant Science Institute of the Agricultural Research Organisation at Volcani Centre
Asia-Temperate Japan University of Ryukyus, Okinawa
Asia-Temperate Korea, the Republic of Korea Institute of Arboretum Management
Asia-Temperate Kyrgyzstan The National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic
Africa Madagascar Silo National des Graines Forestières
Northern America Mexico Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Northern America Mexico National Forestry Commission of the United Mexican States
Africa Mozambique Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique
Australasia New Zealand Massey University, acting through and on behalf of the New Zealand Indigenous Flora Seed Bank
Temperate-Asia Oman Oman Botanic Garden
Temperate-Asia Pakistan Bio-Resources Conservation Institute
Southern America Peru National Institute of Health
Europe Spain Jardín Botánico Atlántico de Gijón
Europe Spain Sociedad Ciencias Aranzadi - Banco de Germoplasma Vegetal de Gipuzkoa
Europe Slovakia Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Africa South Africa South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)
Asia-Temperate Taiwan National Museum of Natural History
Asia-Temperate Taiwan Taiwan Forestry Research Institute
Asia-Tropical Thailand Forest Restoration Research Unit, Department of Biology of Chiang Mai University
Asia-Tropical Thailand National Science and Technology Development Agency (acting through National Biobank Thailand)
Asia-Tropical Thailand Bangkok Forest Herbarium
Pacific Tonga Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Fisheries, Government of Tonga
Northern America USA The Center for Plant Conservation
Asia-Tropical Vietnam Plant Resources Centre, Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Africa Zambia Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection

*Continental regions based on Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG) Standards