Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Rare strawberry preserved in seed vault

|
|
 
  
Published: March. 12, 2010 at 12:48 PM
Advertisement

SPITSBERGEN ISLAND, Norway, March 12 (UPI) -- A rare wild Russian strawberry is included in the latest shipment of seed sent to Norway for preservation in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, officials said.

The strawberry's seed was collected from the island of Iturip in Far Eastern Russia in 2003 and then shared with researchers at the National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Ore.

The Fragaria iturupensis seed was among 10,552 samples of seed recently sent to the seed vault by the Agricultural Research Service, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that promotes international food security.

The service has sent three seed shipments since January 2008, with the most recent shipment including wild and cultivated soybeans, semi-dwarf wheat and rice cultivars, USDA officials said in a release Thursday.

The vault, which now contains 511,000 seed collections, is built into the side of a mountain on Spitsbergen Island, located midway between Norway's northernmost coast and the North Pole.

© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The making of the Oscars The Chicago Auto Show 2011: The year in space
Mercedes-Benz fashion week In New York Tu Bishvat Migron settlement The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China
Additional Science News Stories
1 of 21
President Obama Signs Smuggling Prevention Act at White House
View Caption
fark
All fifth graders who want to go see "Red Tails" please step forward. Whoa not so fast there girls...
If we timewarped back by 2000 years, what job would you be most qualified to do? No, you can't bring...
BAD: getting caught in a landslide while hiking. WORSE: getting struck by lightning while trying...
Weepy eyes, hot chix, Jersey Shore Ronnie and a guy with mini fishing reels stuck in his beard....
French roadbuilders find 21 German WWI soldiers...and 1 goat
Photoshop this crazy old coot in the cold