Kew’s Herbarium contains around seven million preserved vascular plant specimens. These specimens contain a wealth of information about plants that have been collected around the world over the past 170 years.
Within the vaults of the Millennium Seed Bank is the Seed Collection, which represents the greatest concentration of living seed-plant diversity on earth. The bank is a global resource for conservation and sustainable use of plants.
Kew's Economic Botany Collection illustrates the extent of human use of plants around the world and also includes 500 specimens of fungi. The huge variety of objects includes artefacts made from plants as well as raw plant materials, such as wood samples.
Kew’s DNA and Tissue Bank contains approximately 58,000 samples representing nearly all families (507 families), and over half the genera (around 7,100) of flowering plants. The composition of the collection reflects studies carried out at Kew over the last 24 years.
Kew’s Microscope Slide Collection holds around 150,000 specimens from a diverse range of plant taxa, particularly from seed-producing plants. The slides include leaf surfaces and sections, pollen, wood, roots and chromosomes.
Kew’s Library contains nearly 2,000 years of plant knowledge and discovery including information on the naming, classification and uses of plants, plant ecology and conservation, and wild plants of the world.
The Illustrations and Artefact Collections are a world-renowned resource for botanical illustration forming an exceptional visual record for species of plants and fungi.
The Archive Collection forms a valuable and unique resource on the history of the discovery, study, transfer and use of the world's plants and fungi.