In addition to their status as green spaces offering opportunities for leisure and recreation, botanical gardens serve as the public-facing component of institutions dedicated to research, conservation, dissemination, education and awareness. These gardens play a crucial role in promoting knowledge and underscoring the significance of plant and fungal diversity. Living collections within botanical gardens also function as vital refuges of biodiversity in the respective geographical regions, contributing significantly to the conservation of plant species.
Real Jardín Botánico-CSIC
Founded on 17 October 1755 by King Fernando VI in the Soto de Migas Calientes. It was relocated in 1781 to its current site on the Paseo de Prado in 1781 under King Carlos III. In 1939, it was incorporated into the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spanish National Research Council), establishing it as a research centre within this organisation. Since its foundation, and throughout the centuries, it has played a key role in advancing of botanical sciences, becoming a reference point in the study of plants and fungi. Currently, the RBG actively houses and conserves various scientific collections, including:
• Herbarium, with more than one million specimens of plants and fungi collected since 1740. These specimens have served as a references for important studies of American flora, including those collected during the royal expeditions of the 17th and 18th centuries. They have also contributed to Flora iberica, a project coordinated from this institution between 1980 and 2023.
• The Historical Archive, which safeguards documentation related to the institution and its researchers, along with documents and illustrations produced by Spanish scientific expeditions from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
• Library, which holds a vast and diverse collection of works dedicated to the study of Botany, including classical works of the historical collection, general treatises, floras, taxonomic studies, and works related to other related disciplines such as horticulture, agriculture, forestry, or biology applied to plants.
• The living collections, which form the main public exhibition section. The conservation and maintenance of these collections has provided experience in cultivating and managing wild plants from around the world, many of which are threatened in their natural habitat.
It also has key technical services to support research, such as:
• The Technical Research Support Unit, which brings together the laboratories, equipment and technical staff needed to apply molecular biology and high-resolution electron microscopy techniques to the study of plant and fungal biodiversity.
• The Scientific Culture Unit, which has a wide range of educational projects and activities to disseminate knowledge about plant and fungal diversity.
Germplasm Banks
These are places specialised facilities dedicated to the collection, storage and ex situ conservation of seeds and plant genetic material. Ex situ conservation, understood as the preservation of the genetic diversity of species and ecosystems outside their natural habitats, is considered a fundamental strategy for safeguarding biological heritage. It serves as an effective tool for protecting threatened wild flora, ensuring species´ survival despite challenges such as habitat destruction, global climate change, pollution and the overexploitation of natural resources, which contribute to a loss of biodiversity.
Why conserve seeds?
Seeds are structures formed through fertilisation in flowering plants, enabling them to reproduce and perpetuate life on the planet. Therefore, their conservation is of paramount importance. Seeds contain a dormant embryo and the nutrients necessary for its development when conditions of humidity, temperature and lighting are suitable. Due to their nature, many seeds can be conserved in germplasm banks under controlled conditions of low temperature and relative humidity, thereby maintaining their long-term viability.
"Seeds are time capsules, containers that travel through time and space. At the right place and the right time, each seed gives rise to a new plant."
Rob Kesseler and Wolfgang Stuppy in Seeds: Life in Time Capsules (2012).
Germplasm Bank of the Real Jardín Botánico-CSIC (BGVMA)
Established in 1982, the BGVMA aims to preserve seeds of wild origin from the Iberian Peninsula and the countries of the Mediterranean basin, as well as to provide support for research. Its current primary objectives focusing on conserving endemic, threatened, and rare species of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the families Amarillydaceae, Iridaceae and Liliaceae.
The Seed Bank currently conserves 3,500 accessions representing approximately 1,600 different taxa. Each accession is a batch of seeds from a single species, collected at a specific time and location, and assigned a unique collection code that identifies it and accompanies it from the moment of collection in the field until its final conservation.
The BGVMA is part of the Spanish Network of Seed Banks (REDBAG), included in the Ibero-Macaronesian Association of Botanical Gardens (AIMJB), as well as the European Network for the Conservation of Wild Seeds (ENSCONET), the Network of Mediterranean Conservation Centres (GENMEDA) and the Networked Forest and Wild Flora Germplasm Bank coordinated by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. Through these networks, coordinated efforts are made to promote the conservation of wild species.
The exhibition
“Threatened Seeds: A Journey Through the Microscope” features 40 images of seeds from species included in the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime (LESPRE) and the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species (CEEA).
The scientific names of the plants have been organised and named according to the criteria established in the work Flora iberica.
The vernacular names of the plants are also taken from the Flora iberica database or from the Anthos Project database.
The specific categories of threatened species correspond to those included in Decree 139/2011 for the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime.