National Tree Seed Centre

Welcome to the National Tree Seed Centre

We preserve the genetic diversity of Canadian tree and shrub species and provide seed for scientific research.

The National Tree Seed Centre, established in 1967, is located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, at the Canadian Forest Service–Atlantic Forestry Centre (CFS–AFC).

At this facility, we collect, process, test and store the seeds of Canadian tree and shrub species for conservation and research purposes.

Currently, the Seed Centre has more than 13 000 seedlots. These contain seed from about 120 Canadian tree and shrub species and more than 45 non-native species. The long-term goal is to store representative seed samples collected from throughout the natural ranges of all Canadian tree and shrub species—about 125 tree species and 100s of shrub species.

Who uses the Centre’s seed?

Researchers are the primary users of the Centre’s seed. This includes scientists at Canadian universities, provincial and federal governments and research agencies, as well as at universities and research organizations in many countries around the world.

The seed is used for a range of research projects, such as provenance trials, isozyme studies, molecular investigations, tissue culture, climate change, assisted migration and species restoration.

In addition to providing seed to other organizations, we conduct our own investigative work, such as developing improved processing and germination testing methods and procedures.