Plants & Fungi from Kew

New initiative to protect UK trees

Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) has established the country’s first national collection of tree seeds – the UK National Tree Seed Project.

Seeds from the UK’s best loved and most vulnerable trees and shrubs will be collected and protected in long-term storage in the vaults of the MSB at Wakehurst Place in Sussex.

Yew (Image: Aljos Farjon)

A priority list of 50 trees and shrubs will initially be targeted for collection, including:

• Fraxinus excelsior (European ash) - currently under threat from ash dieback.
• Taxus baccata (yew) - a native conifer rich in myths, legends and folklore.
• Fagus sylvatica (common beech) - vulnerable to an invasive pathogen causing bleeding cankers.
• Betula pendula (silver birch) - betulinic acid from the bark has shown activity against cancerous cells and HIV.

Find out more about Kew's UK Native Tree Seed Project

Adopt a seed - sword lily

Sword lily (Gladiolus dzhavakheticus) is known from only a very few locations in Georgia and Armenia.

This eye-catching plant grows on sub-alpine meadows which are intensively used as hay meadows, an activity which threatens sword lily populations and reduces the chance of reproducing by seed.

Sword lily (Image: David Kikodze, Tbilisi Botanical Garden and Institute of Botany)

You can help Kew's Millennium Seed Bank save plant species at risk of extinction by adopting a seed.

Help Kew save sword lily

More about sword lily

New Tropical Carnivorous Zone

Opening for spring 2013, Kew's new Tropical Carnivorous Zone can be found in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

The display features carnivorous pitcher plants Nepenthes truncata, N. rafflesiana, the 'fanged' N. bicalcarata, N. vietchii and the recently described N. robcantleyi, which has been displayed at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

 The zone also features elephant yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius), voodoo lily (A. variabilis) and a new hybrid at Kew A. decus-silvae × gigas, plus a range of epiphytic ferns and orchids including Bulbophyllum species.

Find out more about carnivorous plants at Kew