Seed saving, the storage of seeds for future use in agriculture or research, has been practiced since the dawn of human horticulture. Each year's crop was planted with seeds saved from the previous year, or found in the local environment. Eventually seeds crossed regions, by nature or through human migration and trade, thus introducing new species into various local environments. such dispersal of plant genetic materials resulted in origin species producing numerous different varieties as successive generations were hybridized with local flora. With the development of the field of genetics in the late 1800s, scientists began in earnest research seed saving, seed sharing, and plant hybridization. They amassed large specimen collections of plant genetic material in the form of seeds. Seeds were not only the most convenient means by which to store various species, but they permitted scientists greater control over specimens...