Society for Science & the Public, which publishes Science News, uses cookies to personalize your experience and improve our services. For more information on how we use cookies on our websites, visit our Cookie Policy.
50 Years Ago Plants

50 years ago, a 550-year-old seed sprouted

Since then, much older seeds have proved resilient

Silene stenophylla

OLD GROWTH  Fruit frozen for more than 30,000 years in a squirrel burrow in Siberia yielded this healthy, flowering plant in 2012.

S. Yashina et al/PNAS 2012

By Tina Hesman Saey

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Plants

  1. Amazon fires
    Animals

    A year of big numbers startled the world into talking about nature

    By Susan Milius
  2. Pallas’s long-tongued bat
    Life

    A tree in Brazil’s arid northeast rains nectar from its flowers

    By Jake Buehler
  3. kids holding trees to plant
    Climate

    5 things to know about fighting climate change by planting trees

    By Susan Milius
  4. Artisans carving rosewood
    Ecosystems

    Can forensics help keep endangered rosewood off the black market?

    By Edward Carver
  5. turtle embryo
    Life

    A peek inside a turtle embryo wins the Nikon Small World photography contest

    By Jonathan Lambert
  6. burrowing owl
    Ecosystems

    Burrowing birds create pockets of rich plant life in a desert landscape

    By Priyanka Runwal
  7. Abigail Swann
    Climate

    Abigail Swann’s alternate Earths show how plants shape climate

    By Susan Milius
  8. Michelle O’Malley
    Life

    Michelle O’Malley seeks greener chemistry through elusive fungi

    By Aimee Cunningham

From the Nature Index

Paid Content