Seeds

First Nephi 18:23-25 Nephi mentions the seeds they had brought with them in 4 different places. Why does he find them so important? - Perhaps as one of their plans for survival. 8:1 He first mentions the seeds after Ishmael's family joins them - they had gathered together all manner of seeds of every kind - both every kind of grain and every kind of fruit. 16:11 He mentions seeds as they ready themselves to depart the valley of Lemuel after they receive the Liahona 18:6 He mentions the seeds as they load the ship with provisions 18:24 -

It would be interesting as a botanist or a geneticist to find links between grains and fruits in Jerusalem and the same species / DNA in the new world. I'm sure a study like this could be carried out. It would also be humbling to be one of Nephi's descendants a few dozen years later and realize that the fruits and grains your family is harvesting and eating each year were brought over from Jerusalem. It exists for you to eat only because your ancestors brought it with them. It was a perpetual gift for their descendants.