How Long Can a Seed Live?

Seeds aren't really alive, but they do have the power to become living things. No one knows for sure how long a seed can exist without being planted before it loses its power to grow into a plant. But it could be almost forever.

A seed found in China and proven to be 1,400 years old began to sprout when it was watered and planted.

And when the seeds of an Arctic shrub, thought to be between 10,000 and 15,000 years old, were planted and watered, they produced plants within 48 hours!