Plants evolved seeds to case their genes forward into the future.
When a 2000-year-old extinct date palm seed was discovered, no one expected it to be alive. But it sprouted a healthy young plant. That seeds produced millennia ago could be viable today suggests they are capable of extreme lifespans.
In the face of a growing population, a changing climate and declining biodiversity, it has never been more important to understand how best to make seed plants last.
In The Age of Seeds Fiona McMillan-Webster tells the astonishing story of seeds, the crucial role they play in our everyday lives, and what that might mean for our planet.
Fiona McMillan-Webster is a science writer with a Bachelor of Science in physics and a PhD in biophysics.
Praise for The Age of Seeds:
‘The expansive story of one of nature’s great miracles – exploring not just the future of a plant, a species or an ecosystem but of our own ongoing survival.’
DANIELLE CLODE
‘Exciting, fast-paced and beautifully told. The Age of Seeds tells the tale of seeds as messengers from the past, adapted by our ancestors to feed, clothe and cure us. The intimate relationship between people and plants is skilfully told, with a fascinating array of historical figures and scientists contributing to the story in their own voices.
‘The sleeping seed has found a powerful voice in this book, transcending history and geography, in a rip-roaring tale of human endeavour to feed, clothe and cure a human population of nearly 8 billion people’
PAUL SMITH