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The Kew Herbarium (2019)
The extraordinary legacy of a pressed flower.
As with the seven million other specimens stored in the cupboards of Kew's herbarium, this is not a museum piece; it is a resource with which fundamental questions of plant identity, diversity, conservation and usefulness continue to be answered. “Between 25,000 and 30,000 specimens arrive here each year,” says Davies, “that's Kew collecting its own plant samples in places like Madagascar and Cameroon, as well as exchanges with other herbaria around the world.” A staggering 2,000 new species are named and described annually, though that's only a fraction of the material waiting patiently in the wings to be classified. By Wing E compactors (wheel operated shelves) have replaced cupboards, and windows have been swapped for a stable climate control system (we stand in a pleasant 18 degrees celsius).
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