Plant artefacts
Discover Kew's historic plant artefact collection, begun in 1847 by Sir William Hooker. This fascinating global collection includes around 85,000 artefacts including herbal medicines, food and fibres. The collection illustrates the extent of human use of plants around the world, and the huge variety of objects range from paper to weapons and clothing to medicines.
Economic Botany blog
Old photographs, new knowledge
by: Caroline Cornish, Economic Botany blog 25 Apr 2013
Caroline Cornish, who has recently finished her PhD thesis on the history of Kew's Museum of Economic Botany, describes an exciting discovery of old photographs in the Netherlands
- 15 likes
- 1 comment
On Wallace and sago cakes
by: Bill Baker, Economic Botany blog 03 Apr 2013
In this guest post Bill Baker, a palm expert at Kew, reports on a culinary connection between botanists past and present
- 20 likes
- 5 comments
On Wallace and sago cakes
by: Bill Baker, Economic Botany blog 03 Apr 2013
In this guest post Bill Baker, a palm expert at Kew, reports on a culinary connection between botanists past and present
- 20 likes
- 5 comments
Wax wonders
by: Mark Nesbitt, Economic Botany blog 05 Nov 2012
In the Victorian period, creating wax models of flowers was both a ladylike craft, and an important tool for botanical communication.
- 19 likes
- 0 comments
Artefact of the month
This hat was collected for Kew by Richard Spruce in the 1890s. These practical hats are both flexible and durable. It was made in the Pueblo de Monagas region of the Amazonas from the leaves of either the bera or arrow grass. The rough cuticle is scraped off the leaves which are then cut into strips and woven.
Economic Botany Collection
In-depth information about Kew's Economic Botany Collection. Find out more about the artefacts and Kew's research.
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