The Graineterie occupies the former park guard’s pavilion (architect Martenot, 1872). This building, before being used as housing for the guard, was one of the 'Octroi' pavilions of the city of Rennes and still bears its insignia on the eastern facade ('Octroi' was a former tax system for entrance of duties into the cities).
The Graineterie is the technical space of the Botanical Garden of Rennes. The seeds collected each year in the garden are kept, sorted and referenced there, as well as numerous seeds collected in the wild and bearing witness to the characteristic flora of the Rennes basin.
These seeds are used to sow or resow the Botanical Garden’s beds in the case of annuals and short-lived perennials, and for exchanges with other botanical gardens or similar institutions all around the world. Doing that, the Botanical Garden of Rennes is following a centuries-old tradition that a botanical garden, wherever it is on the planet, is never an isolated institution but a node in a gigantic global network. Yes, botanical gardens invented the Internet long before computers existed!
A catalogue of seeds available for exchange, or Index seminum (the accepted term for this kind of document), is published annually by the Botanical Garden of Rennes and distributed to its correspondents or on request from any other potential correspondent.
N.B.: The Botanical Garden of Rennes does not sell seeds. Exchanges and donations only concern other botanical gardens or similar institutions and not with private individuals, except in very specific cases (scientific work for example).