Why are seeds called time-travellers?

Human beings have a life span of seventy two hundred years. History, for us, is what is written down in books by people who lived before us. Now, if there were someone who lived a thousand years, he would be able to tell us if these stories were true. Unfortunately, only trees and their seeds, which are mute beings, live that long. Therefore, seeds have the ability to travel through time.

Seeds can live for years after the death of a plant. Some of them will grow into plants after thousands of years too. In 1954, in the Canadian Arctic, Harold Schmidt, a mining engineer, discovered some seeds in burrows several metres below the ground. With the help of the local people, he gathered the seeds, and preserved them in a dry place.

Years later, Dick Harrington, a scientist, tested the seeds by placing them in a conducive environment. The seeds germinated within 48 hours! Six healthy plants grew out of them. The plants were identified as Lupines Arcticus. Scientists estimate that these seeds were 10,000 years old. They had defined time, only to sprout after being dormant for thousand of years.

 

Picture Credit : Google