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SCI.DAN.B. 6 • TROPICAL PLANT COLLECTIONS THE ROYAL DANISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND LETTERS • 201? PHILLIP CRIBB SCI. DAN. B. 6

Kew, and how those collections influenced the Em­ ern seaboard of North America while the Honourable pire. I will then consider the significance of those col­ East India Company was establishing a presence in lections for botanical science today. the Indian subcontinent. Exotic plants flowed into Botany and its associated collections came to En­ England from around the world. In many ways, some gland somewhat later than their development in con­ of these, such as coffee, tea, potatoes, maize and co­ tinental Europe. Broadly the rise and development of coa had a greater long-term impact on the world than botany can be considered through four periods. Its the desired spices and gold for which many of the ad­ origins lie in the Renaissance in the 16th century, it was venturers set sail. These were grown in botanic gar­ driven forward during the Enlightenment of the 17th dens prior to being cultivated on a wider scale. and 18th centuries, transformed into a full-blown sci­ ence during the days of Empire and invigorated by Cabinets of Curiosity and the Rise of the technical developments associated with comput­ Horticulture ing and the discovery of how to use DNA for taxo­ nomic and other studies since the 1960s, a period that The increasing wealth of England as a trading nation coincided with the loss of Empire and rise of the less in the 16th and early 17th centuries provided the funds formal associations of Commonwealth and European and leisure time for the development of gardens for Union. royalty, the aristocracy and the landed gentry. John Tradescant (c. 1570-1638) was one of the first to appre­ The Rise of Botany and Botanic Gardens ciate the potential for servicing this growing market. in Britain He began his career as head gardener to Robert Cecil, ist Earl of Salisbury at Hatfield House, who sent him to William Turner (1508-1568) was the author of A new the Low Countries for fruit trees from 1610 to 1611. He Herball (Turner 1551-1568), the first herbal published was kept on by Robert’s son William, to develop gar­ in England. He studied in Italy and travelled widely dens at the family’s London house, Salisbury House. on the Continent where he came under the influence He then designed gardens on the site of St Augustine’s of Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566) in Montpellier. Abbey for Edward Lord Wotton in 1615-1623. Rondelet had been a student of Luca Ghini (1490- Later, Tradescant became gardener to the royal fa­ 1556), the first to prepare books of pressed plants (her­ vourite George Villiers, ist Duke of Buckingham, re­ baria) to aid identification (see Friis 2017). Botanic modelling his gardens at New Hall, Essex and at Bur- gardens and their collections arose originally from ley-on-the-Hill, Rutland. In 1618, Tradescant travelled man’s need for useful plants. In the European tradi­ to the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery in Arctic Russia tion, apothecaries’ gardens were places where sim­ (his own account of the expedition survives in his col­ ples, plants with medicinal or supposed medicinal lection). Then, in 1620, he travelled to the Levant and properties, were cultivated for use. In Britain, the first to Algiers during an expedition against the Barbary botanic garden, where plants with medicinal proper­ pirates, returned to the Low Countries on Bucking­ ties could be studied, was founded in 1621 at Oxford ham’s behalf in 1624, and finally went to Paris and (as University. It was followed in 1670 by the Royal Bo­ an engineer for the ill-fated siege of La Rochelle) the tanic Garden, Edinburgh and, in 1673, by the Chelsea Ile de Rhé with Buckingham. After Buckingham’s as­ Physic Garden, established by the Society of Apothe­ sassination in 1628, he was then engaged in 1630 by caries. This was a period of rapid change in the coun­ the king to be Keeper of his Majesty’s Gardens, Vines, try. The Tudor dynasty had challenged the established and Silkworms at his queen’s Oatlands Palace in Sur­ European power of the French and Spanish with trad­ rey. ing companies and piracy. By the early 17th century On all his trips he collected seeds and bulbs every­ England had a foothold in the Caribbean, on the east­ where and assembled a collection of curiosities of nat­

64 SCI.DAN.B. 6 THE BOTANY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE ural history and ethnography which he housed in a In 1719 he became president of the Royal College of large house, ‘The Ark,’ in Lambeth, London. The Ark Physicians, holding the office for sixteen years. In was a ‘Cabinet of Curiosity’, a collection of rare and 1722, he was appointed physician-general to the army, strange objects, that became the first museum open to and in 1727 first physician to George II. In 1727 he suc­ the public in England (the Musaeum Iradescantianum ceeded Sir Isaac Newton as president of the Royal So­ now forms part of the Ashmolean Museum at Ox­ ciety; he retired from it at the age of eighty. He was a ford). He also gathered specimens through American founding governor of London’s Foundling Hospital, colonists, including his friend John Smith (1581-1631). the nation’s first institution to care for abandoned From their botanical garden in Lambeth, on the south children. bank of the Thames, he and his son, John (1608-1662), Sloane purchased the manor of Chelsea in 1712, who later made two expeditions to North America, provided the grounds for the Chelsea Physic Garden. introduced many plants into English gardens that When Sloane retired in 1741, his library and cabinet of have become part of the modern gardener’s repertory. curiosities had grown to be of unique value and in­ cluded the extensive natural history collections of En­ Sir Hans Sloane and the Foundation of the gelbert Kaempfer’s from Japan, William Dampier’s British Museum from NW Australia (made 70 years before Banks reached the continent), and Mark Catesby’s from Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) was one of the most in­ Florida and the Carolinas and also those of William fluential of those who followed in the Tradescant tra­ Courten, Cardinal Filippo Antonio Gualterio, James dition of collecting curiosities (De Beer 1953; Mac­ Petiver, Nehemiah Grew, Leonard Plukenet, Mary Gregor 1994). In his youth, he collected objects of Summerset, the Duchess of Beaufort, the rev. Adam natural history and other curiosities which led him to Buddle, Paul Hermann, Franz Kiggelaer and Herman study medicine in London. Following a period in Boerhaave. France he returned with a considerable collection of He bequeathed his collections to the nation and, plants and other curiosities, of which the former were together with George H’s royal library, it was opened sent to Ray and utilised by him for his History of Plants. to the public at Bloomsbury as the British Museum in He was elected to the Royal Society in 1685 and a 1759. His Natural History collections were later to be­ fellow of the College of Physicians in 1687. The same come the foundation for the Natural History Muse­ year he went to Jamaica aboard HMSÆiiitørø as phy­ um (MacGregor 1994). sician in the suite of the new Governor of Jamaica, the Duke of Albemarle. In fifteen months there; he col­ Sir Joseph Banks and the Rise of the Royal lected about 800 new species of plants, which he cat­ Botanic Gardens, Kew alogued and published as a work in two volumes A Voyage to Madera, Barbados, Nieves, St Christopher andJamai ­ Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) was the critical link be­ ca (Sloane 1707-1725). Sloane encountered cocoa tween Enlightenment figures, such as Sloane, and the while he was in Jamaica and devised a means of mix­ recognition of the strategic importance of plants for ing it with milk to make it more pleasant. When he the nation that eventually led to the establishment of returned to England, he brought his chocolate recipe a national botanic garden at Kew (Gasgoigne 1998). back with him where it was initially manufactured As a wealthy and enthusiastic young man seeking ad­ and sold by apothecaries as a medicine. venture and sponsored by the Admiralty but largely His practice as a physician among royalty and the self-funded, he accompanied Captain James Cook on upper classes was large, fashionable and lucrative his round-the-world voyage in 1768-1771. On his re­ and, in 1716, he was created a baronet, making him the turn he was feted and became a confident of King first medical practitioner to receive a hereditary title. George III whose estate at Kew had been established

65 PHILLIP CRIBB SCI. DAN. B. 6 as a botanic garden by his mother Princess Augusta meg, pepper, cinnamon and cardamom, but the rich with the help of Lord Bute. By 1773, Banks had be­ flora of the region sparked considerable local collect­ come the unofficial director of the garden, a position ing and botanical expeditions. William Roxburgh that was formalised in 1797. Banks dispatched explor­ (1751-1815), Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1865) and Wil­ ers and botanists to many parts of the world, and liam Griffith (1810-1845), the first three superinten­ through his efforts Kew Gardens became arguably the dents of the Calcutta Botanic Garden were all pio­ pre-eminent botanical gardens in the world, with neering collectors. Roxburgh established the first many species being introduced to Europe through Indian herbarium and an associated collection of wa­ them and through the Chelsea Physic Garden and tercolour paintings of native plants drawn by local their head gardener John Fairbairn. Banks directly artists, Wallich made the first collections in Nepal, fostered several famous voyages, including that of while Griffith ventured into Afghanistan in the First George Vancouver to the Northwest Pacific, and Wil­ Afghan War, Bhutan with the first diplomatic embas­ liam Bligh’s voyages to transplant breadfruit from the sy and Burma. Their collections form a large part of South Pacific to the Caribbean islands. He also chose the herbarium of the East India Company which came Allan Cunningham for voyages to Brazil and the to England in 1837 before being split into a set for Cal­ north and northwest coasts of Australia to collect cutta and another that eventually came to Kew at the specimens. The Royal gardener and botanist at Kew, beginning of the 20th century. It forms the basis for William Aiton published in 1789 a catalogue in three the botany of the Indian Subcontinent (de Candolle volumes of the plants grown in the gardens at Kew, & Radcliffe-Smith 1981; Desmond 1992). Hortus Kewensis (Aiton 1789). The second and nearly At this time, horticulture began to realise the po­ twice as large edition of this work was edited and tential of tropical plants and the Empire provided much augmented by William Aiton’s son, William easy access. The nursery of Messrs Conrad Loddiges Townsend Aiton (Aiton & Aiton 1810-1813) and listed of Hackney, which flourished from 1771 until 1852, pi­ plants from Australia (c. 300 species), South America oneered growing tropical plants for commercial horti­ (c. 260 spp.), Siberia (c. 220 spp.), and China (c. 120 culture. For example, it received plants from the pro­ spp.). fessional collector Hugh Cuming (1771-1865) from the Banks was also instrumental in the colonisation of Philippines (Dance 1980). Cuming also sent many of the east coast of Australia, giving glowing reports of his plant collections to William Hooker at Kew. Lod­ its potential to the government who were looking for diges’ example was followed by Messrs Low & Co of places to site penal colonies after the loss of North Upper Clapton, another London nursery, and soon America during the War of Independence. Increas­ afterwards by many other nurseries, notably Messrs ingly, Banks influenced the development of the bota­ James Veitch & Sons of Chelsea and Exeter, and ny and agriculture of the Empire through his numer­ Messrs Fredk. Sander & Sons of St Albans. Orchids ous contacts in government and science, particularly were a particular focus for many of the collectors. through his role as President of the Royal Society. He Many of the finest plants to be introduced ended up actively supported existing botanic gardens in the at Kew and the link between Kew and horticulture colonies and campaigned for new ones (Desmond continues to the present day. 2007). One of Banks’s greatest protégés was Robert During the reign of King George III, the East In­ Brown (1773-1858) whom he sponsored to join HMS dia Company established botanic gardens in India at Investigator as botanist on Matthew Flinders’ circum­ Samalkot and Calcutta specifically to learn about na­ navigation of Australia (Mabberley 1985). There he tive plants and to experiment with species suitable for collaborated with Ferdinand Bauer, the great botani­ cultivation there (see Sanjappa & Venu 2017). Initially cal illustrator, and Peter Good, a gardener from Kew. the interest was in the culture of spices, such as nut­ Brown collected 3400 species in Australia, of which

66 SCI.DAN.B. 6 THE BOTANY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE some 2000 were new to science and were published in assembled by John Quin in 1882 (Prendergast et al. his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae (1810), considered 2001). now as the basis for the botany of the continent. Kew received preserved collections from many of­ Brown became Banks’ librarian in 1810 and was be­ ficially sponsored expeditions. The Zambezi Expedi­ queathed his collection and library on Banks’ death. tion (1858-1864), led by David Livingstone and fund­ Brown, in turn, gave them to the British Museum ed by the British Foreign Office, set out to ascertain (Natural History) where he worked for the rest of his whether the Zambezi was navigable in its whole life. length and to catalogue its natural resources in order to identify raw materials for British industry and to The Hookers at Kew promote commercial markets and civilization to sup­ plant the slave trade. Livingstone was accompanied The death of Banks coincided with a loss of interest by John Kirk, Charles Meller, Thomas Baines, Rich­ by the Royal family in Kew. By 1838, concern about ard Thornton and Charles Livingstone. Kirk and the state of Kew and its future led to the government Meller’s collections came to Kew. At the same time commissioning John Lindley (1799-1865) and Joseph John Hanning Speke (1827-1864) and James Augus­ Paxton to prepare a report on the state of the garden tus Grant (1827-1892) set out on a Royal Geographi­ and its future. The report strongly recommended that cal Society sponsored expedition to determine the Kew should assume a role as ‘an efficient institution source of the Nile. Grant’s collection also came to for the promotion of botanical science throughout the Kew. Empire’. After some delay, William Hooker (1785- On the elder Hooker’s death in 1865, the director­ 1865) was appointed as the first director of the Royal ship passed to his son Joseph (1817-1911), an eminent Botanic Gardens, Kew, under its new government pa­ botanist in his own right. He had already travelled as tronage. It proved an inspiring choice. Hooker had surgeon botanist on HMS Erebus on James Ross’s already established a network of correspondents Antarctic expedition from 1839-1843. The expedition during his time as Professor of Botany at Glasgow. circumnavigated the southern ocean, visiting Tierra Notable amongst these was George Bentham (1800- del Fuego, Tasmania, New Zealand and a number of 1884) who started working at Kew in 1854 when he other sub-Antarctic islands. From 1847-1851 he ex­ presented his herbarium and library to the Gardens. plored the Himalayas of Sikkim and north-east India, Hooker followed in Banks’s footsteps, training gar­ introducing amongst others, several species of rhodo­ deners and botanists and recommended the best for dendron to British gardens, starting a horticultural service in colonial gardens in Ceylon, India, Singa­ craze for them. Hooker continued his father’s devel­ pore, Australia, the West Indies, and Canada. opment of Kew as a major botanical institute and also Amongst others, Walter Hill was recommended for sponsored botanic gardens, botanists and collectors Brisbane, William Purdie for Trinidad and George around the Empire. By now, a number of colonists Gardner for Ceylon. This network was then used to were making systematic collections of plants for Kew transfer exotic plants, both showy and useful ones, and their own newly established botanic gardens. around the world, most notably to develop crops to Hooker provided the British Government with advice enhance trade. A notably successful collaboration in­ and recommended staff for the overseas gardens (Des­ volved British diplomats who received instructions mond 2007). Kew provided an efficient identification from Hooker to collect plants and plant products for service, sending back identifications that could be ap­ Kew’s economic botany collections. Two remarkable plied to the specimen retained in country and allow­ examples are the collections of rare hand-made paper ing local botanists to identify native plants accurately. collected in Japan by Harry Parkes from 1869-1871 Thus, botanic gardens and collections of accurately (Uyama 2006) andjapanese lacquer and lacquer-ware identified living and preserved specimens grew

67 PHILLIP CRIBB SCI. DAN. B. 6 throughout the Empire with Kew directors and staff Africa to collect systematically for Kew. Large collec­ exercising a continuing influence over many decades. tions resulted from west, east and south-central Afri­ At this time, two of the best-known examples of ca. Ladies, such as Marjorie Tweedie on Mt Elgon and the encouragement of colonial agriculture are the col­ Helen Faulkner in Tanga, Tanzania (then Tangan­ lection of rubber and quinine from the Americas to yika) made extensive herbarium collections and pro­ the Old World. Richard Spruce (1817-1893) left En­ duced scrapbooks full of beautiful watercolour draw­ gland in 1849 and spent 15 years collecting over 30,000 ings of them. The latter are now in Kew’s archives. specimens in the Amazon and Andes. His main set Upland Kenya Wildflowers (Agnew 1974) was illustrated came to Kew along with seeds of quinine (Cinchona by Marjorie Tweedie’s drawings. The most remark­ spp.) from the Ecuadorian Andes. Successfully grown able of Milne-Redhead’s team was Mary Richards at Kew, plants were rapidly despatched to Ceylon, In­ (1885-1977) who first visited Africa at the age of 65 and dia and elsewhere in the Far East where plantations proceeded to collect 35,000 numbers in Tanganyika were established. Quinine protected millions from (Tanzania) and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), includ­ malaria in the succeeding decades. Henry Wickham ing large numbers of novelties. (1846-1928) is a more controversial character, often unjustly accused of bio-piracy. He sent seeds of rub­ The Commonwealth ber (Heveabrasiliensis Muell.Arg. ) to Kew in 1876 from Santarem region of Brazil. Kew sent the germinated The Second World War proved a watershed for the seedlings to gardens in the Far East. The establish­ British Empire with many countries acquiring inde­ ment of successful rubber plantations was largely pendence in its wake, beginning with India and Paki­ down to the enthusiasm of Henry Ridley (1855-1956), stan in 1947 and most of the remainder the Empire then director of the Singapore Botanic Garden and during the 1960s. However, the existing links were his good relations with Chinese plantation owners in fostered by the creation of the British Common­ Malaya. wealth, which most of the newly independent nations In parallel with Kew sending out its own collectors joined. Three countries, Australia, India and South and expeditions and encouraging locally based bo­ Africa sent liaison botanists to Kew to deal with re­ tanical collection in the British Empire, the Hookers quests from their fellow countrymen. The Australian used their extensive network of contacts in Europe liaison botanists stayed a year, whereas the Indian and North America to build up collections from re­ and South Africans stayed three years at Kew. Most of gions outside the Empire. The significance of sharing them were young scientists who, upon returning collections was emphasised when the Berlin and Phil­ home, rose to senior and influential positions in their ippines herbaria were destroyed during the Second own institutes. Research on the floras of Common­ World War. Fortunately, duplicates sent by them can wealth countries continued at Kew with an increasing be found in other herbaria, including Kew. input from in-country botanists. The tropical African floras, such as the Flora of Tropical East Africa and Flora In-country Collectors Zambesiaca, were written as regional monographs, greatly enhancing their scientific value and longevity. Kew and its associated herbaria and gardens contin­ Increasingly, Kew has contributed to extra-Common- ued to benefit from collections from the Empire. One wealth floristics, notably in tropical Africa, South of the most fruitful networks was that set up by Edgar America, and China, both as authors and as editors of Milne-Redhead, the Kew Herbarium’s deputy keeper, floristic accounts and relevant monographs. at the end of the Second World War. He encouraged Monographic work and revisions were also en­ the colonial civil servants, medics, farmers and mis­ couraged, many leading to doctoral thesis for Kew sionaries (or more specifically their wives) in tropical and Commonwealth botanists. I would like to high­

68 SCI.DAN.B. 6 THE BOTANY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE light the series of monographs of monocotyledon ed as a catalyst for the institutes to collaborate and families that have been produced in recent years, in­ credibility to the project in the eyes of government in cluding Genera Graminum (Clayton & Renvoize 1999), Brazil. The project is now funded in-country and con­ Genera Palmarum (Dransfield el al. 2008), Genera tinues its successful path. Aracearum (Mayo et al. 1997) and Genera Orchidacearum Kew, Edinburgh and the Natural History Museum (Pridgeon et al. 1995-2014). Each involved Kew staff, each have long-established relationship with British often as coordinators, editors and authors, but nearly and foreign universities, running specialist courses all of them also involved a network of contributors and co-supervising students at various levels up to from around the world. In the case of the last, 180 sci­ post-doctoral level. Training and technology transfer entists contributed to its success. These monographs to sister institutions around the world has been a ma­ now provide the basis for future research and will jor element of the work of these institutes and remains hopefully inspire young scientists to enter the profes­ a high priority. sion. When I started to work on orchids at Kew in the Perhaps the most important developments of the early 1970s I would have given my eye-teeth to have late 20th century for systematic botany were the dis­ had a synopsis like Genera Orchidacearum as a starting covery of the structure of the DNA molecule by Wat­ point for my life’s work. son and Crick in the 1950s, the increasing use of DNA Alongside the floristic and monographic work, sequences as taxonomic markers in the 1950s and on­ Kew continued to produce important databases and wards and the development of powerful computers tools for the botanical community, notably Index Ke- that started in the Second World War but gained in­ wensis (originally funded by a bequest from Charles credible momentum from the 1970s onwards. These Darwin) that has now transmogrified into IPNI (The have energised botanists and have brought the botan­ International Plant Names Index), the Authors ofPlant ical community together and made possible collabo­ Names (Brummitt & Powell 1992) and others. Staff rative approaches that could not have been contem­ members also contribute to many international proj­ plated before. However, I think that the influx of ects for the botanical community, an increasing num­ young enthusiastic and well-qualified scientists is ber now that the world-wide web is so accessible. equally important to a science that was rapidly being Kew started as an institute to deal with the eco­ seen as old-fashioned by others. nomic plants of the Empire and its economic botany collections continue to be relevant and a source of sig­ Conclusion nificant research and development programmes. The Plantas do Norde-Este (PNE) project that sought to The British Empire provided easy access for British bring high-quality plant information and techniques botanists to countries around the world. Collabora­ to local communities in the nine states in the arid and tion with locally based expatriates, and more recently impoverished north-east of Brazil is a fine example of with local botanists and collectors, allowed for effi­ how botany can catalyse development. Seed money cient use of time and resources for field-work. The from Shell and the UK’s Overseas Development Min­ government’s establishment of botanic gardens in the istry brought together institutes in the region and lo­ colonies to encourage plantation agriculture and the cal Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to study of potentially useful native species in every part provide information (from Kew’s SEPASAL database of the Empire meant that botanists and collectors of useful plants of arid lands), techniques and seed could use them as bases for intensive studies of the sources (from the Millennium Seed Bank) to solve lo­ native floras. Specimens flowed back to the major cal problems, such as fuel wood deficiency, control of British institutions at an impressive rate (60,000 a goat grazing, increasing honey yields and living phar­ year to Kew when I started there in the early 1970s), macies to local communities. Kew’s participation act­ duplicates remained in-country to enrich the national

69 PHILLIP CRIBB SCI. DAN. B. 6 herbaria while those collections were enhanced by the Institutes, such as Kew, the Natural History Muse­ accurate identification and naming provided by bota­ um and Edinburgh, face many challenges over the nists at Kew and by the flow of potential new crops to next few years such as the loss of political will and the colonial gardens. funding, taxonomy not being taught at universities, Although it is currently fashionable to decry this taxonomic expertise not being replaced and the de­ (e.g., Figueiredo & Smith 2010; Smith & Figueiredo mand for short-term, high impact science and market­ 2011), many benefits for botanical science, agriculture, able products. In a period of rapid change and the horticulture and conservation have accrued as a result. loss of taxonomic expertise, I provide here my assess­ The major botanical collections, such as at Kew, have ment of the strengths, weaknesses, threats and oppor­ the advantage of relatively comprehensive geographi­ tunities for a collection such as Kew (Table 1). In a cal and systematic scope, good curatorial standards, challenging time, the botanical community needs accessibility, a large, dedicated and well-qualified staff more than ever to speak with one voice and make and efficient and effective networks. Furthermore, clear the contribution it makes and can continue to many are situated in regions of relative political, cli­ make to solve the world’s many problems, not least of matic and geological stability that has enabled them to which are overpopulation and the associated changes survive for two centuries or more. Comprehensive col­ of climate that seem now to be inevitable. Taxonomic lections provide the basis for wide-ranging systematic botany has a major role to play in meeting the chal­ and related projects, including training and technolo­ lenges of feeding a rapidly increasing world popula­ gy transfer. Botanic gardens and botanical institutes tion when biodiversity and ecosystems are increasing­ around the world continue to consult and collaborate ly threatened. It is a challenge that we can meet but with Kew for the same reasons. only by working together and by challenging the po­ The Hookers’ legacy provided Kew with a base for litical and scientific elites to recognise that collec­ major botanical projects, the first being Bentham and tion-based systematic botany is still relevant and can Joseph Hooker’s Genera Plantarum, competed in 1883. provide solutions. The collections at Kew have continued to grow and develop during the 20th and early 21st centuries. One References result has been that Kew has taken a leading role in several large-scale and long-term projects that smaller Agnew, A. (1974). Upland Kenya Wildflowers. Oxford Univer­ institutes cannot contemplate on their own. Major sity Press, Oxford. floras, notably a series of southern and tropical Afri­ Aiton, H. (1789). Hortus Kewensis, or, a Catalogue oflthe Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. Vol. 1-3. can floras have been completed. Major monographs George Nicol, London. of economically important plant families have been Aiton, H. & Aiton, W.T. (1810-1813). HortusKewensis, or, a Cat­ successfully published. Kew botanists have played a alogue ofl the Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at significant role in the new APG III (http://www.mo- Kew. By the late William Aiton. The second edition enlarged by Wil- bot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/). The institution liamTownsendAiton, gardener to his Majesty. Vol. 1-5. London has also continued to play a major role in training, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, London. conservation and development projects around the Brown, R. (1810). Prodromusflorae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae world. It established or helped establish the Herbari­ van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum quas annis 1802- 1805 per oras utriusque insulae collegit et descripsit Robertus um Techniques and Botanical Garden Management Brown; insertis passim aliis spedebus auctori hucusque cognitis, seu Courses, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre evulgatis, seu ineditis praesertim Banksianis, in primo itinere na­ for plants, the Survey of Economic Plants for Arid varchi Cook detectis. R. Taylor & Co. and J. Johnson & Co., and Semi-Arid lands (SEPASAL) and Plant Resourc­ London es of Tropical Africa (PROTA) programmes, the Mil­ Brummit t, R.K. & Powell, C.E. (1992). AuthorsoflPlantNames. lennium Seed Bank network and much else. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. SCI.DAN.B. 6 THE BOTANY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Candolle, R. de & Radcliffe Smith, A. (ig8i). Nathaniel ish Museum.]. Cramer, Braunschweig & The British Mu­ Wallich MD, PhD, FRS, FLS, FRGS, (1786-1854) and seum, London. the herbarium of the Honourable East India Company Macgregor, A. (ed.). (igg4). Sir Hans Sloane: Collector, Scien­ and their relation to the de Candolles of Geneva and tist, Antiquary. British Museum Press, London. the Great Prodromus. Botanical Journal ofthe Linnean Soci­ Mayo, S .J., Bogner, J. & Boyce, P.C. (igg7). The Genera of ety 83(4): 325-348- Araceae. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Clayton, D. & Renvoize, S. (iggg). Genera Graminum. Royal Prendergast, H.D.V., Jaeschke, H.F. & Rumball, N. (2001). Botanic Gardens, Kew. A Lacquer Legacy at Kew: The Japanese Collection of John Quin. Dance, S.P. (ig8o). Hugh Cuming (^1-1865), Prince of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. collectors. Journal ofthe Societyfor the Bibliography of Natural Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.A. & Rasmussen, History gtø): 477-501. F.N. 61995-2014). Genera Orchidacearum. Vol. 1-6. Oxford De Beer, G.R. (ig53). Sir Hans Sloane and the British Museum. University Press, Oxford. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Sanjappa, M. & Venu, P. (2017). Indian herbaria: Legacy, Desmond, R. (igga). The European Discovery ofthe Indian Flora. floristic documentation and issues of maintenance. Sd- Oxford University Press, Oxford. entiaDanica, B (Biologica) 6: I4g-i62. Desmond, R. (2007). The History of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sloane, H. (1707-1725). A Voyage to Madera, Barbados, Nieves, St Kew. 2nd ed. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Christopher and Jamaica, with the natural history ofthe herbs and Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C.W., Baker, W.J., Har­ trees,four-footedbeasts,fishes, birds, insects, reptiles, &c. ofthe last ley, M.M. & Lewis, C.E. (2008). Genera Palmarum, the of those islands; to which is prefix’d an introduction, wherein is an Evolution and Classification of Palms. Ed. 2. Royal Botanic account ofthe inhabitants, air, waters, diseases, trade, &c. of that Gardens, Kew. place, with some relations concerning the neighbouring continent, Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G. (2010). The colonial legacy in and islands ofAmerica. Illustrated with thefigures ofthe things de­ African plant taxonomy. South African Journal of Science scrib’d, which have not been heretofore engraved; in large cop­ 106(3-4): Article Number 161, 4 pp. doi: 10.4102/saja. per-plates as big as the life. Vol. 1-2. Printed for the author, vio6i3/4-i6i. London. Friis, I. (2017). Temperate and tropical plant collections: Smith, G. & Figueiredo, E. (2011). Responsible species de­ The changing species concept and other ideas behind scription. A change of attitude is needed to facilitate their development. Scientia Danica, B (Biologica) 6:15-38. and improve access to biological material. Faxon 60(6): Gasgo igne, J. (igg8). Science in the Service of Empire: Joseph I549-I551- Banks, the British State and the Uses ofScience in the Age ofRevolu­ Turner, W. (1551-1568). A newHerball. Barckman, Köln. tion. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Uyama, K. (2006). Review ofJapanese Paper’Washi'madefrom Mabberley, D. (wfifif). Jupiter Botanicus: Robert Brown ofthe Brit­ Broussonnettia Species: with Reference to the Parkes Collection Exhibit at Kew. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

71 PHILLIP CRIBB SCI. DAN. B. 6

Table i . An assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for large herbarium collections such as that at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Strengths Weaknesses Threats Opportunities Systematic depth Systematic and geographic Loss of political will and Political imperative for holes financial support sound and easily accessible plant taxonomy

Geographic depth Unbalanced curation Historical projects that Kew’s track-record as a have not been completed leading institute Excellent curation Non replacement of Lack of relevant training Modern techniques attrac­ experienced staff in universities tive to young scientists Skilled staff Poor systematic knowledge Strategic muddle New collaborations of newly recruited staff International collaborators Management by accoun­ Retirement of experienced Novel uses for herbarium tants staff collections Long-term goals for Funding easier for short- Short-term high impact Pressing needs of climate research term, high impact research emphasis for funding change and rapid loss of biodiversity Long-term impact of Lack of appreciation on Increasing power of research long-term impact of computing and access to systematic work information via the internet