Seed Savers deposits more seeds at Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Seed Savers Exchange has announced that a fourth deposit of 271 heirloom seed varieties has been made into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.   President and Executive Director John Torgrimson confirmed that Seed Savers Exchange has sent a total of 1,660 open pollinated varieties to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault since it opened in February 2008.
 
While Seed Savers' share represents only a small portion of the more than 600,000 total deposits at Svalbard, the organization's contribution is unique because the heirloom varieties are mostly seeds conserved by amateur home gardeners.  Here is a small sampling of the 2011 deposit:   Lettuce 424, "Virkler", an heirloom dating to the mid 19th century, originally from the Alsace Lorraine region of France;  Tomato 2402, "Antique Roman", reported to be an old Italian paste tomato, unique because of its polymorphic fruit, donated to SSE by John Swenson; and Squash 3039, 'Yokohama', introduced in the United States around the 1860's.