Irreplacable Heirloom Tree Seeds Lost To Hurricane Frances

JACKSONVILLE, Florida, November 5, 2004 (ENS) - "Seeds gathered from a tulip poplar tree planted at Mount Vernon in 1785 by George Washington were among the irreplaceable seeds destroyed when tornadoes ripped through Jacksonville, in the wake of September's Hurricane Frances. The seeds were considered especially rare because they were gathered after the tree, too tall and too isolated to be pollinated naturally, was hand-pollinated from a bucket truck by an official from the National Arboretum.

Also lost were seeds with connections to a half-dozen American Revolution sites and with ties to Martin Luther King, Amelia Earhart, and Thomas Edison, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and as far away as Beijing's Forbidden City.

Historic Tree Nursery, a program of the nonprofit American Forests, which gathers and grows seed connected to famous people, places, and events, sustained more than $6 million in damage to its three greenhouses in Jacksonville. The seeds, which represented 16 years of collecting, had been stored under climate and moisture controlled conditions.

Nurseryman Jeff Meyer, who directs the Historic Tree Nursery, said he and the staff are trying to be optimistic in the face of this disaster. "My goal is that we try to rebuild," he said. "My hope is that once again Historic Tree Nursery will provide trees and seeds to schoolkids and others across the country. The nursery also lost 40,000 trees that were being grown for sale. The trees, ranging in size from tiny seedlings to 20 foot tall landscape trees, have been popular with everyone from homeowners to celebrities, but especially with schools, which use Living Classrooms of trees, lesson plans, and software to help students make the connection between trees and science, history, math, and technology.

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... but maybe the seeds will land somewhere and grow?

We may never know where they are... but if the seeds are still viable (I have no idea how long they last)... maybe the tornado would scatter then over some soil somewhere out of the way and they'll germinate..

:shrug:

Heyo

perhaps storing "irreplaceable ANYTHINGs" in a place that is in Hurricane Alley, is not such a smart thing...

but...if you knew a hurricane was coming, why wouldn't you remove the seeds to a safe place?

This was God's will and those seeds are probably going to miraculously appear in the parking lot of a Fundamentalist Church so that the "good Christians" can plant them and build their arc when Asshat's God declares an end to the world. Of course, the seeds would grow overnight into a a 300 year old tree, suitable for harvesting under the "Healthy Trees" Act. OK, I'm finished...

Professor 2