Nestled in the back of Mānoa Valley is the Lyon Arboretum, a public botanical garden and research unit for the University of Hawaiʻi.
Over a century old, the 200-acre property is home to the most unique collections of plants in the world.
UH professor Don Drake took over as interim director of the Lyon Arboretum this month. He specializes in the way plants interact with each other and the life cycle of seeds. His interest in botany was piqued after teaching in Tonga with the Peace Corp.
"There's something very positive about growing a plant and putting it in the environment, particularly something that you know will probably outlive you," Drake said.
Research and emphasis on conservation biology at UH led to the development of the Hawaiian Rare Plant Program and the seed bank at the Lyon Arboretum.
It is the state's largest conservation laboratory. The unassuming two-story facility houses roughly 31 million seeds.
HRPP staffer Diane Hardy got her foot in the door as a volunteer last year and was hired full-time last month. She utilizes steady hands and sharp eyes to image minuscule seeds via a powerful microscope that captures the surface of a tiny seed — each unique and rich with textures and colors invisible to the naked eye.
Her mission is to digitize the collection, taking photos of all the seeds and sharing them with scientists around the world.
"I love our growth chamber, seeing how the seedlings from the seeds that were banking here are growing, and what plants look like because I mostly look at the seed... I always get really excited when a seed germinates," Hardy told The Conversation.
Nathan Kingsley, conservation manager at the lab, said their work can mean the difference between survival and extinction for certain native plants.
"Some of them, the only place that they really exist is in ex situ is here in the lab. And that's a scary thought," he said.
"But it's also a neat thought to know that at least, we keep them from completely going extinct."
The HRPP building is scheduled for renovation at the end of the year. Facilities including a micropropagation lab, a rare plant greenhouse, and the seed conservation lab will be transplanted to a temporary location on the university campus.
Find the beta version of the digitized seed collection at SeedsofHawaii.org.
This interview aired on The Conversation on June 29, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. This interview was adapted for the web by Emily Tom.
