New discoveries to science from Kew

Over 250 years, Kew has made many discoveries about the fascinating worlds of plants and fungi. Each year, many new species of plant and fungi are discovered by our world class scientists.

We discover new things about the plants and fungi every day. This includes how different species relate to one another and new ways to use plants to make life easier and better. 

Plants are essential to life on earth. In a world where our changing environment is becoming less and less certain, the power of plants combined with Kew’s scientific expertise is ever more critical.

Support science and research at Kew | Go behind the scenes with Kew blogs

Photo: The dry thornbush of North East Kenya

60 year project documenting plants of East Africa celebrated at Kew Gardens

13 Sep 2012

A significant milestone in East African conservation and botany will be celebrated at Kew today, to mark the completion of The Flora of Tropical East Africa (FTEA). This vast 60 year project involved documenting and furthering knowledge of the region’s 12,104 wild plant species, including many plants new to science.


0 comments

Coffea mannii

Growing coffee

25 Jul 2012

The number of species in the coffee genus has increased from 104 to 124 as a result of a new systematic study.


0 comments

Gladiolus alatus

Diversity anomaly in Gladiolus

19 Jul 2012

Researchers have investigated why there are more species of Gladiolus in the Cape of southern Africa than in the Mediterranean Basin.


0 comments

Jasminum humile

Mechanistic insights into Old English plants

09 Jul 2012

Plants from the Queen’s Garden at Kew have been investigated for their potential to treat auto-immune diseases.


0 comments

Structures of two similar flavonoid glycosides

Spot the chemical difference

26 Jun 2012

Scientists at Kew have devised a method to distinguish similar flavonoids when chemically profiling plant extracts.


0 comments

Mapping the Harapan Rainforest - how we did it

by: Jenny Williams, GIS team blog
24 May 2012

Find out how Kew's GIS unit used remote sensing and field work to produce vegetation maps for the Harapan Rainforest Project.

Image of moss

Diversification of land plants

04 Apr 2012

Researchers have reconstructed phylogenetic relationships among all 706 families of land plants.


0 comments

Thrips damage on Crotalaria capensis

African anti-thrips plant

28 Mar 2012

A plant in Kew’s Temperate House has been found to contain compounds toxic to thrips.


0 comments

Lord Howe Island

Sympatric speciation contributes to island biodiversity

14 Mar 2012

Scientists discover at least 11 examples of sympatric speciation on Lord Howe Island.


0 comments

Vegetation and a cow in Cape Eland in Fynbos

Plant diversification in the Cape of South Africa

06 Mar 2012

Research suggests that the high levels of biodiversity in the Cape of South Africa have been promoted by a combination of complex environmental conditions and climatic stability.


0 comments

Page  1  | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 of 8  
Displaying 1 to 10 of 75 matches
See your favourite reasons to visit