Celebrating the Platinum Jubilee at Kew

Monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana)

The monkey puzzle tree is an evergreen conifer native to Chile and Argentina that can live for over 1,000 years.

It is named after its sharp branches, tightly clothed with spiny leaves, that would puzzle even a monkey with the task of climbing the tree!

Monkey puzzles were first introduced to Britain in 1795 by plant collector Archibald Menzies – he planted two seedlings here at Kew, grown from large pine nuts he had been served as dessert by the Governor of Chile.

Fossilised specimens of monkey puzzle trees have been found in rocks dating back 200 million years to the Jurassic Period, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

This curious tree is often planted to commemorate significant events.  So, when the Queen visited Chile in 1968, she planted an Araucaria at the Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago.

Spot one of our monkey puzzles at Kew, standing beside The Orangery. Or wander down to Bloomers Valley at Wakehurst to see an entire grove of these magnificent trees.

Common poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

Poppies were one of the few plants to grow on the barren battlefields of the First World War, after which they quickly became a distinctive symbol of remembrance.

The idea for the remembrance poppy was inspired by John McCrae’s poem In Flander’s Fields;

‘In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row…’

Red poppies became a symbol of remembrance in the United States at the end of the First World War. Later, the remembrance poppy became a British tradition from 11 November 1921 when the Royal British Legion held its first ‘Poppy Day’.

Today, the practice of wearing artificial poppies has been adopted in many countries on Remembrance Day (11 November), in honour and remembrance of veterans and those who have lost their lives during wars and other conflicts.

Every Remembrance Sunday, Her Majesty leads the nation in remembrance by laying a wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph war memorial in London, England.

Cayman sage (Salvia caymanensis)

For nearly 40 years, Cayman sage was thought to be extinct — it hadn't been seen in its native Grand Cayman (part of the Cayman Islands) since 1969.

So, in 2005, conservationists commissioned local artists to create a wanted poster for the treasured plant, offering a reward of 1,000 Cayman dollars.

Almost two years later, a motorist spotted the distinctive blue flowers growing at the side of the road, and the rest is history!

But the struggle isn't over yet as Cayman sage is still critically endangered. Its seeds are safeguarded at our Millennium Seed Bank, and conserved in living collections at Kew and Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park on Grand Cayman Island. 

In 1994, Her Majesty visited the Cayman Islands as part of a Caribbean tour.

Montserrat orchid (Epidendrum montserratense)

This critically endangered orchid is one of Montserrat's two surviving endemic plant species (those that are found naturally on the island and nowhere else in the wild).

In 2006, Kew conservationists rescued several of these orchids from dead trees on the volcano-ravaged island of Montserrat. They passed them on to colleagues at the Montserrat National Trust Botanic Garden, where they are now conserved.

Two collections of seeds have since been safely stored in Kew's Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst.  

Montserrat is a UK Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. Her Majesty visited Montserrat in 1966 as part of a month-long Caribbean tour.