The Millennium Seed Bank Project, run by Kew Gardens—one of the oldest botanical gardens—will officially deposit the 24,200th species on Thursday, a pink, wild banana from China．

　　More than 50 countries are now on board with Kew’s giant task but vast places of the globe, including India and Brazil, still need to join in and donate seeds, director Paul Smith said．

　　The seed bank is one of the largest and most diverse in the world with more than 1．5 billion seeds．Its goal is to help protect the planet’s bio-diversity during a time of climate change．

　　The wild banana seed is under threat of extinction（灭绝） in southwest China from agricultural development．It is a vital food source for Asian elephants and important for growing bananas for human consumption．

　　Stored at minus-20 degrees centigrade, so they can last for thousands of years, the seeds await the day that scientists hope never comes—when the species no longer exist in the wild．

　　It is a race against time, Smith said, because in the last decade alone, 20 plants held in the bank have already been wiped out in the wild．He estimates that between a third and a quarter will become extinct this century．

　　"It is urgent and it is happening now．An area, the size of England, is cleared of primary vegetation（植被）every year．" Smith said．

　　Because most of the world’s food and medicines come from nature, protecting wild plant species is quite important, scientists say．There are already many other seed banks safeguarding food crops, which only account for 0.6 percent of plant diversity．

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