
The Herbarium
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.
Discover our HerbariumIn line with government advice, Christmas at Kew and Glow Wild has been cancelled for the duration of the running programme. Ticket holders will have been contacted via email with their options.
Both Kew Gardens and Wakehurst are open in the daytime (although some of our buildings are closed). Book a time slot to Kew Gardens or Wakehurst before you visit.
This two-week course has been run regularly since 2004 and arose from weekly family identification sessions held in our Herbarium.
It is taught by Kew’s botanists, all with an in-depth knowledge of the plants and habitats of the tropics.
Course participants will complete an overview of 70 of the most commonly encountered tropical plant families, as well as an introduction to plant morphology and identification tools.
Conservation and environment professionals, and is also suitable for graduate students, ethnobotanists, ecologists and zoologists.
The course will be delivered by short illustrated lectures and extensive hands-on practical sessions. Kew botanists will demonstrate the key characters for each family, sharing their expert tips for identification.
Students will join identification sessions focused on different regions in the tropics, and a visit to the living collections will provide a chance to apply this knowledge ‘in the field’. Class sizes are small, a maximum of 16 participants.
Under the current Covid restrictions, all Continuing Professional Development Courses at Kew are on hold. New course dates will be advertised here as soon as they have been confirmed.
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.
Discover our HerbariumSpecies discovery, naming and curation, and undertaking accurate taxonomy - the bedrock on which all of Kew’s pure and applied science is based.
Meet the department