Seeds

Scientists using radiocarbon dating have confirmed that an ancient Judean date palm seed among those found in the ruins of Masada in present-day Israel and planted three years ago is 2,000 years old -- the oldest seed ever to germinate. The seed has grown into a healthy, 4-foot-tall seedling, surpassing the previous record for oldest germinated seed -- a 1,300-year-old Chinese lotus, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science.

HISTORY does not record exactly how Jack planted his marvelous beanstalk, but he probably just pushed a seed into some moist dirt with a finger. Though the results might not be quite as dramatic, sowing seeds in containers isn't much more difficult. You're more likely to succeed because containers make it easier to control temperature, humidity and other things that dramatically affect germination.

Several scientists are cautioning Los Angeles officials to think hard before reseeding and replanting large areas of Griffith Park that burned in last week's 820-acre brush fire. Reseeding can be expensive and potentially useless, said the scientists, who specialize in restoring open land in Southern California after major wildfires. It can also introduce grasses and other plants that normally do not grow in the region, crowding out natural vegetation, they said.

High above the icy fjord, the vault is almost complete. Inside a frozen mountain not far from the North Pole, workers are building three concrete chambers to withstand global warming, floods and fires, wars and nuclear holocaust. This Arctic safe, nicknamed the "doomsday vault," will protect millions of crop seeds here on the forbidding Svalbard archipelago, the northernmost inhabited spot on the planet.

'BLACK Cherry' tomatoes -- dark juicy morsels with a tart-sweet essence and glistening maroon color that stands out in a salad or frittata. 'Anellino' beans -- curled like green and gold pigs' tails with buttery Romano-like flavor and texture. 'Papaya Pear' zucchini -- sunshine-yellow summer squash that glow like tiny papayas. If you assume such mouth-watering crops are exclusively farmers market delicacies, think again. Every one of these beautiful vegetables can be grown in your own backyard.

Norway on Monday began construction of an Arctic seed bank that is intended to be a "Noah's Ark" of global crop samples, protecting them from extinction. The $4.8-million vault near Longyearbyen on the island of Svalbard, in the Arctic Circle, will hold as many as 3 million types of seeds from all over the world, according to the Norwegian Agriculture and Food Ministry. The bank is scheduled to open in September 2007.

Seeds from the cotton plant have been made safe to eat and could someday meet the protein needs of half a billion people a year, according to a new study. Normally, a chemical called gossypol makes the seeds inedible for humans, but researchers at Texas A&M University genetically modified the plant to produce seeds with little or no gossypol. The results were reported in Tuesday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "It tastes pretty good," said lead researcher Keerti Rathore.

Re "Joining the Valley do-gooders," So-Cal Life, March 12 I thank Eryn Brown for writing about her realization that there is an organized "small army" of people willing to invest the time and energy to preserve and protect neighborhoods and communities in the San Fernando Valley from overdevelopment and traffic. Teaching "How to Be a Community Activist" is akin to a gardener planting seeds with the hope that they all will sprout under the right conditions. That's my planting plan for those in my class that day. ELLEN VUKOVICH \o7Sherman Oaks \f7

I loved your article on hemp as a food source ["Soy's New Competition: Hemp," May 14], but you failed to mention that hemp doesn't have seeds per se. They are more correctly identified as an achene, which is defined as: A small, dry, indehiscent one-seeded fruit with a thin wall, as in the sunflower. I hope to see more articles on this very good source of food and nutrition. JEFF JONES \o7Los Angeles \f7