Lamiaceae
Background
Research in Lamiaceae has been a focus of scientific research at Kew from early in its history with Bentham providing the first global account of the family in 1830 and then working at RBG Kew on later editions until 1878. Bentham’s collection laid the foundation for what is now the largest and most representative herbarium collection in the world, consisting of around 145,000 specimens. Ray Harley continued this tradition of collection and research in Lamiaceae until his retirement in 1996 and now continues at RBG Kew as a Research Fellow. There are also strong traditions of anatomical, cytogenetic, biochemical and palynological research on Lamiaceae at RBG Kew. Alan Paton now co-ordinates research on Lamiaceae.
The traditional division of Lamiaceae and Verbenaceae (e.g. Bentham & Hooker 1876) is far from satisfactory. This delimitation was based on whether the taxa were mostly woody with a terminal or subterminal style (Verbenaceae) or mainly herbaceous with a gynobasic style (Lamiaceae). The limitations of this classification were pointed out by Junell in 1934 and elaborated upon by Philip Cantino in 1992. The traditional classification is difficult to implement and does not represent phylogenetically natural taxa. In 1991 a major international conference was held at Kew, organised by Ray Harley and Tom Reynolds, and including several presentations by Kew staff and associates. This conference and subsequent newsletter built and maintained a network which facilitated the production of a modern circumscription of Lamiaceae and Verbenaceae for Kubitzki’s Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. This network also helped review a species level checklist of Lamiaceae and Verbenaceae which was made available on Kew’s internet in January 2006. These two products will serve as the basis for future study of the Verbenaceae and Lamiaceae for many years to come.