Economic Botany Collections

Lacquerware box

Surgeon-Major James Edward Tierney Aitchison was the appointed Botanist of the Afghan Boundary/Delimitation Commission in the years between 1884 and 1886. During these years, Dr. Aitchison set about collecting plants that yielded products of commercial value. He aimed to obtain good specimens for botanical identification, and in fact, upon his return from the Afghan boundary, he had these plants identified at the Kew Herbarium. The lacquerware box shown here was one of the many plant parts or products that Dr. Aitchison donated to the Collections at Kew . It was most likely collected during his expedition to the Afghan boundary.

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