Plants in action at Kew
Plants are essential for clear air and water, food medicine and fuel. About 70% of the world’s population rely on plants for medicine. Scientists at Kew endeavour to discover new ways to make use of plants for good and share this knowledge with others.
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Monitoring the effect of an invasive pine scale insect on the national tree of the Turks and Caicos Islands
by: Sara Green, UK Overseas Territories team blog21 Nov 2011
While an introduced scale insect devastates the Caicos pine in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), Sara Green, a Conservation Science MSc student from Imperial College, London investigated the impact that the insect is having on the tree’s habitat and the effectiveness of different techniques of controlling this pest.
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Conservators care for tapa cloth at Kew
by: Daniel Barter & Cristina Liria, Economic Botany blog15 Aug 2011
Two conservation students from Camberwell College of Arts have spent three weeks surveying barkcloth specimens from the Pacific.
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The mysterious hanging diagrams of Museum No. 2
by: Caroline Cornish, Economic Botany blog09 Aug 2011
One of Kew's PhD students investigates the beautiful posters that once hung in Kew's museums.
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Useful plants just got beautiful
by: Christina Harrison, Kew magazine blog05 Jul 2011
That was one of the main messages of The Times Eureka garden at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show – useful plants should be appreciated for both their beauty and their vital utility.
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A Journey to the 'Land of Many Waters'
by: Sara Albuquerque, Economic Botany blog15 Jun 2011
Sara Albuquerque updates us on her journey to Guyana, in the footsteps of Sir Everard im Thurm.
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Kew's garden at Chelsea is revealed
Kew's garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2011 showcases the significance of plants to science and society, through an eye-catching and innovative design by Chelsea gold medallist Marcus Barnett. See more photos of the garden on Kew's Flickr page and tell us what you think!
Kew teams up with The Times for Chelsea 2011
Kew is delighted to announce that it is working in partnership with The Times to create a garden showcasing the significance of plants to science and society, through an eye-catching and innovative design by Chelsea gold medallist Marcus Barnett.
High Society - the culture and history of mind-altering drugs
by: Mark Nesbitt, Economic Botany blog04 Jan 2011
Kew's Economic Botany Collection has been a major lender of psychoactive plants to the Wellcome Collection's exhibition 'High Society'.
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Eco-fibres old and new
by: Mark Nesbitt, Economic Botany blog13 Dec 2010
Sustainable fibres are ever more popular with consumers and designers. The Textile Society's recent conference compared historic and contemporary approaches to the subject.
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The 'tanghin ordeal'
by: Charlotte Rowley, Library, Art and Archives blog20 Oct 2010
Read about the toxic plant used in poison ordeals in Madagascar as described by the botanist Charles Telfair in 1829.
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News from the Gardens
Kew is recruiting a new Director
30 Jan 2012
After six years at Kew, the current Director (CEO and Chief Scientist), Professor Stephen D. Hopper FLS will be returning to Australia to take up a Chair in Biodiversity at The University of Western Australia.
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Kew Explorer Halloween train tours
20 Oct 2011
Hear mysterious tales of Kew from the Abominable Dr Creeper whilst you travel around the Gardens on the Kew Explorer land train.
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Explore Kew Gardens on Google Street View
Nature fans and gardening fanatics can find inspiration by navigating the paths of Kew Gardens’ 326 acre site. Take in the largest collection of plants in the world – 30,000 different species, including 14,000 trees – and iconic structures such as the Palm House and Pagoda.
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Don't miss our necklace orchid in flower this autumn
Kew's necklace orchids are showing off their sparkly curtains in the Princess of Wales conservatory at Kew Gardens.
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