Article: Rooted in history

Sunday July 19, 2009

By KEE HUA CHEE

IT'S amazing that the 132ha of the British Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, sit in a city. Here's another amazing thing: despite its location in the polluted atmosphere of London's south-west, the Kew gardens are perpetually lush and luxuriant.

There are more wonderful facts about this green space: Its herbarium is one of the world's largest with seven million specimens while its seed bank is the planet's most comprehensive with 1.5 billion seeds. The gardens now reportedly have one out of eight plants existing on this planet!

These are just a fraction of the gardens' world-beating facts. Yet their beginnings were so modest. There has been some form of an "exotic" garden on this site as far back as the 16th century for royal amusement but it was only when William Aiton was appointed royal gardener in 1759 by Princess Augusta, Princess of Wales and mother of King George III, that the gardens were officially established.

An early photograph of the Palm House being built in 1844. It was completed in 1848.

Then it was a humble and manageable 3.5ha "physic" garden, now it's 132ha. In 1987, another Princess of Wales, the late Princess Diana, opened the Princess of Wales Conservatory, which houses 10 climate zones.

The fledgling Kew gardens' botanical ventures begun in earnest with the completion of the Chinese Pagoda in 1762. At a lofty 50m, it was considered the height of exotic grandeur, though it looks rather out of place today. Still, it remains the main draw for Chinese tourists, charmed to see a touch of home in England.

The botanist who made the gardens world famous is Joseph Banks (1743-1820), whose expeditions to collect plants from the (then) known world are the stuff of legend. He sailed to Australia and gave his name to one of its most popular plants, banksia. His ship's captain was none other than James Cook and the ship was the renowned Endeavour.

The plants Banks brought back to Britain caught the attention of King George III and, in 1778, the botanist was appointed president of the Royal Society (the venerable Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, popularly known simply as the Royal Society), a post he held for 41 years.

Another botanist who dedicated his life to the Kew gardens was Francis Masson (1741-1805). At Banks' instructions, Masson brought back over 1,000 living plants rather than dried or preserved specimens from Captain Cook's second global circumnavigation. Masson introduced geraniums to Britain and stunned its high society with birds of paradise plants. He even stopped by the Malay peninsula to cart back the giant titan arum lily, whose descendants can be admired (in full bloom currently) in the Palm House.

The gardens have another connection with Malaysia, of course: in 1876, the Kew gardens received 70,000 seeds of rubber, collected by one Henry Wickham from their native jungle, the Amazon. The seeds were planted, but only 2,800 germinated. Some of the seedlings were sent to Sri Lanka and Malaysia where they did well, were propagated, and, in this country, became the basis of one of our key industries, rubber. (Sourced from kew.org.)

By the start of the 19th century, every ship returning from each British colony had been instructed to bring back at least one new plant for the gardens. By the start of the 20th century, Britain had colonised one-quarter of the world's population so it is not surprising that the Kew gardens, more than any other botanical park, had a head start in amassing its botanical treasures.

The gardens now have over 30,000 different types of plants and some 14,000 trees.

With six monumental greenhouses and 132ha to play with, the gardens have surprisingly few formal areas, as the layout is informal and natural-looking.

Instead of being severely elegant, the flowers, shrubs, plants and trees are allowed to thrive and grow in near wild profusion, though it is obvious the parklands are maintained by man's handiwork.

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Celebrating nature at Kew gardens

This article was taken from: The Star Online: Lifestyle: Travel & Adventure, 19 July 2009