The Gardens and Collections

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Wakehurst Place are among the most beautiful gardens in the country but their beauty is more than skin deep. Our collection of more than 40,000 different kinds of plants is the largest and most diverse collection of living plants in the world – 1 in 8 of all flowering species.

While the Gardens are a major attraction for visitors they also provide an essential resource for Kew’s scientists. The Living Collections provide a living library of plants from around the world. The Order Beds, for example, are used to show the relationships between different plant species while lilac, peony and philadelphus gardens illustrate the variations seen within plant families. Economically important plants from grasses to orchids are found throughout the gardens and are used to investigate the potential uses of plants.

The Herbarium houses a collection of more than 7 million preserved plant and fungi specimens used by botanists in research, and as an aid to plant identification. The Herbarium also contains Kew’s library and archives, the world’s largest collection of botanical books, illustrations and paintings. Many date back hundreds of years but they are still used by today’s researchers in their search to understand more about the plant Kingdom.

The Economic Botany Collection contains everything from cricket bats to west-country fish traps. All the items in the collection are made from plants or plant products and show how different people around the world made use of the plants they find growing around them.

Your donation could help support the creation of a new Kew collection, providing both an additional visitor attraction and a valuable scientific and conservation resources. A donation to the Library could support the conservation of rare manuscripts or paintings while support for the Herbarium would enable us to further our research into plant evolution and uses.