A brief history of conservation at the Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew

When Princess Augusta and Lord Bute, followed by Sir Joseph Banks and King George III, started gathering plants at Kew, conservation on the site can be said to have begun. Although the primary motive then was to assist the expansion of the British Empire and trade, rare plants were gathered and some became rare or extinct in the wild as their habitats were destroyed. The primary motive in the nineteenth century was not conservation, but the history of conservation at the Royal Gardens at Kew dates back to its very origins. Subsequent regimes at Kew maintained and added to the collections thereby adding to their conservation value. Many early collections are of species now listed within the IUCN categories of endangerment. Environmental awareness and concern had begun by the time that Professor Jack Heslop-Harrison became director and he was the first director actively to initiate specific conservation programmes such as seed banking and work on red data books. From then on conservation became an integral part of the work programme of Kew and the focus on conservation has increased with each subsequent director. This eventually led to the transformation of the embryonic seed banking activities into the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest and most important bank in the world for the conservation of the seeds of wild species. It currently holds just over ten percent of all seed plant species. Conservation at Kew over the past three decades has very much been a balance between ex situ work and in situ activities to help conservation in the overseas areas where Kew scientists have experience. Throughout the history of the gardens there has been a vital interest in economic botany that has developed from moving plants around the empire to much work on the sustainable use of plants and ecosystems thereby better equipping the institution to subsequently work on in situ conservation. Significant conservation activity at Kew has been possible because it is being supported by a solid research programme that includes such areas as systematics and molecular genetics and laboratories, a large herbarium and a large library. Kew has played an important role in stimulating conservation work elsewhere and such units as the Threatened Plants Unit of IUCN and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) have their roots in Kew. Among other important conservation initiatives have been the creation of a unit to work with the implementation of the CITES treaty on the trade of endangered plants and a legal unit to work on issues of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). There is no doubt that the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is at the forefront of plant conservation.     

1060. Delphinium caucasicum C.A.Mey: Ranunculaceae

Delphinium caucasicum C.A. Mey. is illustrated from plants cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Its history, nomenclature and ecology are described and instructions for its successful cultivation are given.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Ericas of South Africa . D. Schuman & G. Kirsten in collaboration with E.G.H. Oliver
The European Discoveiy of the Indian Flora . Ray Desmond
A century of Kew plantsmen, a celebration of the Kew Guild . Desmond, Ray & Hepper, F. Nigel     

THE ALPINE HOUSES OF KEW

Summary.  There has been an alpine house at Kew since 1887. The first house was a traditional design that was in use for nearly a century. Subsequent alpine houses at Kew have been more radical in their design and helped raise the profile of Kew's alpine collections. The latest, the innovative Davies Alpine House, opened in March 2006.     

THE MADAGASCAR ORCHID PROJECT Growing Orchids for Conservation

Summary. A collaborative project between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Pare de Tsimbazaza Botanical Garden to cultivate and propagate the endemic orchids of Madagascar is described.     

675. JASMINUM MULTIPARTITUM

Jasminum multipartitum Hochst. is described and illustrated from material flowering at Kew. Its distribution is given and suggestions for its cultivation are provided.     

The breeding system of Ramosmania heterophylla–dioecy or heterostyly?

OWENS, S.J., JACKSON, A., MAUNDER, M., RUDALL, P.JOHNSON, M.A.T., 1993. The breeding system of Ramosmania heterophylla– dioecy or heterostyly?Ramosmania heterophylla (Cafe Marron), endemic to Rodrigues, Mauritius, is now almost extinct, since it appears to exist in the wild as a single plant, but has recently been successfully established at Kew by means of vegetative cuttings. Despite plenty of flowers on the Kew plants, attempts to set seed by manual pollination for seed banking purposes have failed. This investigation showed that pollen is viable and that embryo sacs appear fully developed. Lack of seed set is a result of the non-functional stigmas on short styles. The most likely explanation is that the last-known plant is male, although heterostyly or a mutant stylar developmental gene cannot be ruled out. The plant has a chromosome number of 2n= 22.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Primula . John Richards. 299 pp., 116 colour paintings (19 plates), 51 colour and 10 black-and-white photographs, 17 line drawings.
Kew, A World of Plants . Heather Angel. 160 pp., 146 colour photographs, 1 map. Collins & Brown, London, in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1993.
Pests and Diseases of Alpine Plants . P.R. Ellis, A.R. Entwistle & D.G.A. Walkey. 320 pp., 28 colour plates (163 photographs), 35 black-and-white figures including 2 plates (12 photographs), 50 tables.     

698. FRITILLARIA USURIENSIS

Fritillaria usuriensis Maxim. is illustrated; its cultivation in China for Chinese traditional medicine, and at Kew are described.     

A 2013 linear sequence of legume genera set in a phylogenetic context — A tool for collections management and taxon sampling

The Leguminosae (or Fabaceae) currently comprises 751 genera. In most of the world's herbaria the genera are arranged by old, non-phylogenetic, classification systems which, while offering insights into morphological similarity, make no explicit statement as to evolutionary relationships. While classifications based on morphology are useful tools for plant identification, they do not offer the predictive value that phylogenetically based linear sequences provide. The legume collection of c.750,000 specimens in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was moved to a new building between 2010 and 2011, which presented the opportunity to reorganise the collection by a linear sequence based on a number of relatively comprehensive published legume phylogenies. The numbered linear sequence adopted at Kew has been updated and emended to include generic changes that have been published up to March 2013. The linear sequence, together with an alphabetical list of genera, is presented here to serve as a management tool for future taxon sampling and herbarium curation. The process used to develop the linear sequence and to rearrange the legume collection at Kew is discussed together with plans for future dissemination of changes to the sequence as new phylogenies are published and incorporated.     

934. MORAEA RETICULATA

Moraea reticulata Goldblatt from the Eastern Cape is illustrated and the history of its discovery and present distribution are given. Its cultivation at Kew is described.     

Botanic gardens and climate change: a review of scientific activities at the Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew

In 2009, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK) launched its Breathing Planet Programme. This 10 year programme seeks to re-align Kew’s work to develop plant-based solutions to the challenges of climate change. Further to the development of the Programme, Kew has undertaken a review of its science projects with relevance to mitigating the impacts of climate change on plant diversity and people. The review has allowed Kew to better understand its current strengths and weaknesses in this area in order to plan for the future. The findings of the review could be relevant for science programmes in other botanic gardens. Botanic gardens play a fundamental role in the conservation of biodiversity to mitigate climate change impacts. Knowledge and data on plant systematics, distribution and physiology is vital for modelling and monitoring the impacts of climate change, to help to identify plant species and habitats most at risk of losing their wild diversity. Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Project will safeguard 25% of plant species by 2020, while in situ projects are improving the conservation of threatened habitats. One challenge is to make such activities relevant and useful to other scientists, conservation groups and policy makers working to address climate change. However, botanic gardens must also develop working practices and projects that specifically address the challenges of climate change. Kew and a global network of partners are doing this in a variety of ways, and examples will be presented in this paper.     

On the identity of Guatteria costata Hook. f. & Thomson (Annonaceae)

Examination of the type from Burma of Guatteria costata in the East India Company herbarium at Kew shows that it belongs in Trivalvaria and provides an earlier name for T. dubia (Kurz) J. Sinclair. A new combination is proposed. A further synonym, Polyalthia montana Ridl., is lectotypified.     

Alexander von Humboldt’s fungal collections at Kew

Collections of three fungal species described from Germany by Alexander von Humboldt have been rediscovered in the mycological herbarium at Kew. These collections are considered lectotypes of Boletus patella, B. venosus, and Clavaria aurea and are assigned to Postia stiptica, Physisporinus vitreus, and Calocera viscosa respectively. Humboldt’s Central & South American collections are also at Kew and a list of specimens is appended. Based on the rediscovered type collection, Favolus humboldtii is considered a synonym of Polyporus tenuiculus.     

665. SINOBAMBUSA TOOTSIK

Sinobambusa tootsik (Makino) Makino ex Nakai, the Chinese Temple Bamboo, is described and illustrated from material flowering at Kew. Its distribution is given and suggestions for its cultivation are provided.     

597. TULIPA SPRENGERI

Summary.  The distinctive Tulipa sprengeri Baker (Liliaceae) is illustrated and described. Its history, classification and cultivation requirements are discussed, including the results of recent research at Kew that establishes its position within the genus.     

WALTER HOOD FITCH AND THE HOOKERS – THE CONTINUING TRADITION OF BOTANIST AND ARTIST COLLABORATION AT KEW GARDENS

The relationship between the W.H. Fitch, the botanical artist, and the Hookers, William and his son Joseph, is described. The role of the botanical artist in science and the work of some recent artists at Kew is examined.