53 19627 RUSSELL:KEW PALMS Palmsat Kew T. A. Russnll Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England

The first collection of palms in Eng- made foreman of the hothouses, and as land of which good record remains was foreman and then curator he served Kew that of Robert James,Bth Lord Petre, at for over forty years until advancing Thorndon Hall in the county of Essex, blindness caused him to retire from ac- some 2l miles east of London. Lord tive work. Ide lived on in the neighbor- Petre and his wife took great interest in hood for manv vears, emPloYing the growing unusual , and a feature days in dictating his memories of what oostove," of Thorndon Hall was the ttr had happened in the Gardens in his much heatedconservatory, which in 1736 con- time, a i"cotd {rom which springs at Kew' tained ten di{ferent palms. All are not of our knowledge of early palms recoenisable at this distance of time, In lB23 when Smith becameforeman but ihey plainly included the date-palm of the hothouses,he found the palms not of North Africa, a Brazilian fan palm, only few in number but also badlY the oil palm o{ tropical Africa, and the housed. The glasshousethen used for cabbage-palmwhich h4d been found by palms was a lean-to structure. 60 feet Sir Hans Sloanein Jamaica. iottg uttd rising to 15 feet at the highest When Princess Augusta, f)owager *u[. A central bed was filted with bark Princess of W'ales, put into effect in from the tanyard, whose slow fermenta' 1759 her plans for a botanic garden at tion provided heat, and in this the tubs the royal residence of Kew House, there and pots of palms were sunk' The finest was built a heated house for tropical *p""i-"tt. at this time were two pla,nts plants in which palms might find a it Sobnl Blackburnia and a CorYPha; place. In 1768 this held six species;the and Smith describes how theY antl a iate-palm and coconut, the talipot and Panrlanuswere continually pushing their palmyra palms, the European fan'palm, leavesthrough the glassof the roo{' He and a climbing palm or rattan. Additions adds that pitY was taken on them in to this number came slowly through the 1828 when the roof was raised 4 Ieet, vears, and not more than 20 sPecies but the relief so provided can have been were being grown in lB23 when the only short-lived. young palms came under the charge of a The year 1B4l saw great changes a-t man named John Smith. Kew foi in that year the Gardens ceased who com' Smith was a great gardener to be the property of the Royal Family an inde- bined skill and experiencewith and becameinstead a Government insti- Born in pendent and purposeful mind. tution. Sir William Hooker was aP- he had , the son of a gardener, pointed Director, and, with John Smith early age been taken from school at an as curator, developments rvere put in had to be apprenticed to his father, and motion. High on the list of new works in completed his training by working was a Great Stove or Palm House which travel- se,retal famous gardens. He then lvould provide a suitable habitation for 1822,when 24 years of led south and in palms and other exotic Plants. age, he was given emPloYment in the The Great Palm House Royal Gardens at Kew at a weekly waee day, of 12 shillings. In the next year he was A fashionable architect of that 54 PRINCIPES [Vol.6

Decimus Burton, was invited to submit and a pressure-headof water, Connect- a plan. Burton was a man of some dis- ing the two buildings was an under- tinction. The tenth son of an architect, ground passage (eventually made 7 feet he had chosen to follow his father's high and 479 fieet long) with a track profession,and before passingthe ageof along which fuel for the boilers could be 23 had not only set up his own business delivered. but was becoming well known for his The bestposition for this new building creative designs.An example of his work had still to be decided and the site pro- familiar to visitors to London is the posed by . Decimus Burton aroused all arch and facade of H,vde Park Corner. John Smith's scorn and indignation - o'the But his chief interests were in the coun- lowest spot in the parish" he said, "a try, in laying out gentlemen's estates quagmire for the greater part of the with dignity and elegance,a house in year." Smith, of course, knew what he classical style, an undulating park with was talking about, and we read in the groups of trees,in the distancea placid Journal how, for somewinters to come, lake. water seepedinto the boiler-room so fast In March lB44 Burton submitted his that fire-engines had to be employed plan of the Palm House, a plart which night and day to pump out water lest the was finally adoptedafter somemodifica- fires should be extinguished. But this tions suggestedby John Smith and by defect was made good in time, and now, Richard Turner, headof the firm supply- as we view this building, the crystal ing the iron framework. The house was centre piece of the present Gardens, we to be 362 feet long, the largest structure can see in its admirable siting, the evi- of glass which had hitherto been made. dence of Burton's genius and artistic It was to have a lofty central chamber vision. 'Work 63 feet high and 100 feet across,and a on the foundations and boiler- wing to north and south, each 30 feet room was started in 1844. Progress on high and 50 feet across. The structure the upper structure was slow and there was to be supported by a framework appear to have been delays in delivery mainly of wrought iron, and the panes of the ironwork which was being fash- of glass were to be tinted a particular ioned in . The construction at- shade of green to moderate the scorch- tracted great interest, and amongst visi- ing effect of bright sun (a refinement tors viewing its progress were Queen soon shown to be needlessin the smoke- and her Consort whose sur- filled atmosphereof Greater London). prise visit is described in a letter from A suitable temperature for tropical DecimusBurton to Sir William Hooker: plants was to be maintained, even in 6 Spring Garden, the depth of winter, by hot-water circu- 30th June. lB4B lation, and to do this adequately four NIv Dn.qnSm Wu.r-rlu. and one-third miles of piping (later in- I trust that change of air is benefitting creasedto nearly five miles) was reck- your health and that you will soon re- oned necessary.Twelve boilers installed turn in strength . . . You will have heard beneath the building would supply the of the unexpected visit there yesterday hot water. of Her Majesty and Prince Albert. Mr. At some distance from the glasshouse Smith very properly immediately offered was a shaft or ornamentaltower design- his services,and I, who happenedto be ed to provide a chimney {or the boilers in the Palm House, was afterwards de- 1962f RUSSELL: KEW PALMS

$. th" FJ; House,Kew, Irom the air. Photographbv R' R' Zabeau' us his feelings sired to attend H.M' and the Prince who John Smith records for to ar- asked many questions and expressed in going into the great structure much satisfaction.I took the opportun- range their disposal. He saw ironwork girders in ity of expressing my regret that, in con- in every direction, massive r".r,t"tt"" of a serious accident, you had iron, the gallery with its two spiral iron to the staircases,the iron plates forming the been ordered by your Physicians 'osome seaside.I addedyou would be mortified flooring, all, he says, more like on having a second time lost the oppor' dockyard smithy or some iron railway tunity of being present on the occasion station than a hothouse to grow plants of H.M. visiting the Gardens. I added in." A firm of shipwrightswas employed that it would be some comfort if I rnight to move the large sabals,one of which I7r/i tons say to you that H.M. would again be with attached soil weighed manhandled over rollers there this summer. The Queen smiled and had to be and said She certainly should and I was from the old hothousehalf a mile away. to inform you so. The palm collection was soon in place You will be glad to hear that the Palm and to it was added a collection of cy- House Flues are greatly improved as to cads and of screw pines and tropical draught. plants of economic interest, bananas, Yours verY trulY, mango, coffee and cacao. At first the Dncs. Bunrox plants stood in pots or tubs on the metal given At last, in July 1848, the house was flooring, but in 1854 Smith was considered ready to receive plants, and his way and some of the iron Plating 56 PRINCIPES [Vol.6 was removed to make six large beds of Sources of the Palrn Collection soil in the central room. Planted in ln the skilled hands of John Smith, these,the larger palms were encouraged and swelledby contributions from many to make much better growth and the parts of the world, the palm collection mango tree was described as fruiting improved rapidly in variety and condi- well. tion. From earliest days of the Royal The new Palm House was greetedwith Garden, travellers and residents abroad, delight and admiration by the visiting whether surgeons of the Royal Navy, or public. The f)irector, in the official Army Officers on overseasduty, colonial guide-book, described it as the glory of governors,missionaries, or traders, had the Gardens, and other writers wrote its been encouraged to send plants from praises in all the fulsome verbiage and the countries they visited. Moreover, pride of achievementappropriate to the Irom 1772 onwards, Kew employed its "Truly mid-Victorian period. this is a own collectors, young men trained in magnificent work, worthy of this great the Gardens and sent to distant parts to nation, and of the delightful science the seek plants for the collection. interests of which it is so eminently cal- First among thesewas Francis Masson (Philip culated to advance" H.'Gosse, who from the Cape of Good Hope sent 1856) . plants.to Kew over a period of years, The tropical plantsbeing now so satis- 400 species in all, some of which have factorily housed, Decimus Burton was since become popular garden-plants.A asked to design a house for plants re- cycad or sago-palm, Encephalartos quiring protection in the winter but no longifolius, which was collected by Mas- The Temperate great degree of heat. son and came to Kew as a young 'House he or Winter Garden which plan- in 1775,still grows in the Palm flouse, a grandiose Palm ned was more than the veteran of 186 years and a living link .House, central hall, having a spacious with this enterprise of the eighteenth 216 Ieet long and 140 feet wide, with a century. large wing to the south and another to the north connected to the centre by Two Kew men were with Captain disastrous two smaller chambers octagonal in Bligh when, following the ooBoulty," he made his shape. Building of the central hall and voyage of the secondand successfulvoyage in H.M.S. octagonswas begun in 1860 and com- "Providence" pleted four years later, when part of carrying plants of bread- the palm collection was transferred to fruit from the South Seas to the West beds in the central portion. The wings Indies. One of them, Christopher Smith, were not added until much later, and it collected palms in the W'est Indies and these wasnot until 1899, long after its design- were brought to Kew by Captain Bligh in 1793. er's death, that the building reachedits completedlength of 628 feet enclosing From came a number of an area o{ one and two-thirds acres palms including the graceful Liuistona under glass. Although to the external australis. This was received in 1808 view this building lacks the distinction from George Caley. a man of unusual of the Palm House, internally its un- character.The son of a Yorkshire horse- crowded spaciousnessis most attractive. dealer he had becomeinterested in plants It has proved no less favourable a set- through their use in treating sick horses. ting for palms, many of which prefer He obtained employmentas a gardener its cooler and lesshumid climate. at Kew, and after three years was sent 19621 RUSSEI-L: KEW PALMS

'lemperale Kerv. lleft): 34. "A palm'i;;;';;i'i";;;';;;ilI'il;-;;fi from New Zealand, RhopaLostylissapida, in lhe Horrse. "l'Kew r'right)'Photog.aphs bv R' R' zabeau' the ele- to whcr'e he Proved still representedat Kew include Arcl* an industrious collector, sending many gant palm which bears his name, in the plants to England. intophoenix Cunninghamiana House, and Baueri Caley's plant of Liuistona eustralis at Palm R. sapitla which are handsomefea- Kew long outlived him' but was surpas- and o{ the Temperate House' sed in size by another sent from Aus- tures new palm wasfound by the collector tralia in 182'1. The sender was Allan A Milne, who sailed in the ship Cunningham, a botanist trained at Kew, William "Herald" a survey o{ islands in the who, in his travels after plants, became on South Pacific, in 1853. On the small is- one of the pioneer explorers of that "a Lord Howe was seen dense country. He pursued his journeys with land nf forest of palms." From here Milne sent sreat ardour and disregard for comfort, umbrella palm, Hed'yscepe Canter' ittd ut his early dedth was said to have the which later becamepopular as worn himself out with his exertions. His buryana, "for plant of Lirtistona austnalis, many an ornamental. assignment y"ua, on" of the greatest ornaments o{ A collector given a speci{ic palm was William Purdie, ih" Pul* House," reached the glass roof to seek out a Colombia in 1843 with and was felled in 1876. A large palm of who sailed for to find the palm yielding this species is conspicuous in the Tem- instructions were already perateHouse, but lhis plant cameto Kew vegetable ivory. The nuts article of trade, irom the Roval Gardensat Windsor and familiar in as an for ivory in has no known connection with Allan being valued as a substitute balls, chessmen, Cunningham. Other speciessent by him the making of billiard "u"_i-l+_ft;;-"t ::ffi,ffiH*, ;11:--;;.1;' " :' 1r:'::l;:*l::i::::il1t;r,'.t,t;il:;,;:.-",::;ii:l*a;::;;.:::;i;i;i;;1.r"?.i::::r-1";i,:t;;i]"::::",: :' .;,:i-i. ;.";;;.;"'1.i:''"":": : :"' :'" i' ', ' """ : "" :"".: "a " ;. :

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35' The Palm House when completed was the largest glasshousehitherto seen (left above). 36. The Palm House,Iiew, as restoredin 1959 (re{t berow). photographby R. R. zar>eau. 37. The Palm House,opened in IB4g, was hailed with delightedadmiration iabove). 60 PRINCIPES IVol.6 and buttons. But, although they were no doubt, however, thai the collection understood to be borne by a palm, its at that time was one of great wealth, identity and appearancewere not prop- remarkable for its number of species erly known. For three years Puridie and wide geographical range. covering rugged travelled in Colombia The Palm Collection Now aud difficult country, and collecting A list of palms growing now at Kew rare and beautiful plants. He was able would include about 125 species. Onlv to find Phytelephas macrocarpa grow- one is grown out-of-doorswithout pro' ing in abundance on slopes above the tection, thb windmill or Chusan palm, River Magdalena, and to describe its Trachycarpus Fortunei. This palm finds short almost recumbent stem, its spread- good use in China where its leaves are ing decorative fronds, and the scent made by peasants into hats and rain- which made the countrysidefragrant as proof capes,while its fibre provides rope inflorescences opened on the separate for Chinese junks. It was first sent to male and female palms. He sent over 100 England by one of the greatest plant- viable seedsto Kew, and seedlingsraised collectors (though not a Kew man) Ro- there were distributed to other botanic bert Fortune, and a tall plant near the gardens. A female plant, floweiing at Main Gate at Kew is believed to be one Kew in 1855,attracted much notice. The of six plants received from him in 1849. plant now in the Palm House arose as Other younger plants are grouped near an off-shoot o{f an old plant, perhaps the Temperate House. Although they a seedlingof Purdie's. grow well, flowering and fruiting abund- Andean palms of Amongst other antly, these palms look strangely out he sent seedswas the remarkable which of place in an English garden, as if per- palm, Ceroxylon alpinwn Bonpl. (C. wax haps they had strayed out of the glass- Bonpl.). It owes its and,icolaHumb. & house on an unusually hot afternoon, a coating of wax covering the name to and had found themselveslocked out at which, scraped from the stem trunk, closing time. and mixed with tallow, makes very goocl The great central room of the Temper- candles. At Kew this palm is reckoned House provides a spacious setting to be slow-growing, and a specimen in ate for some of the finest palms. Chief the Palm House with trunk 23 {eet tall among them is the coquito nut palm of may perhaps be from seed sent by Pur- Chile, Iubaea chilensis, a palm whose ilie. His task completed in Colombia, fronds brush the rooJ at 55 feet" with Purdie went to Trinidad as Superin- massive trunk 34 feet tall to the base tendent of the Botanic Garden" whence of the leaves and 8 feet 1/2 inches in he continued to send palms and other girth 5 feet from the ground. This great plants to Kew. palm is thought to date back to 184:1, development of botanic gar- With the in which year a purchase of seed was ilens in many overseasdependencies, the made, and, during a large part of its exchange of plants with Kew increased life, it stood under the gallery of the greatly. A list of palms being grown at house about 25 feet west of its present Kew, given in the Director's report for 1938 its upward growth was 1882, includes 420 names. In the critical position. In light of today, many of these names being checked by the sloping roof, and would not be regarded as distinct or as a decision was made to move the Palm representing good species.There can be into the centre where the height of the 1962J RUSSELL:KEW PALMS 6l

38. lubaea chilensis, the largest palm at Kew. Photograph by R. R. Zabeau. house is greatest. To do this, the base .rf single curving stem clothed with leaf- the palm, including roots and accom- bases and topped by graceful feathery panying soil, was enclosedin wooden fronds. This palm is almost a centenar- casingand the whole was slowly shifted ian having beengiven to Kew as a young inch by inch-no mean task for the plant in 1866. total weight was reckoned to be 43 , thqugh small and tons. In its native land this speciesis distant, provides three elegant palms to valued for its edible kernels or nuts. grace the Temperate House, the Hed,y- Charles Darwin, in the account of his scepeCanterburyana to which reference voyage, describes how it is felled for has already beenmade, and Howeia Bel- extraction of the sap, which is then n'Loreana and ,I1. Forsteriana. These boiled to the consistencyof syrup antl graceful specieswith green. leaf-scarred eatenas palm honey. Later writers com- trunks, and dark-green fronds, were at ment on the continued destruction of the one time so popular as ornamentalsin palm to provide this Chilean delicacy. the nursery trade that the sale of seed Mention has been made of the tall from that island made a useful source palm , with closely of revenuefor the isolated community. ringed trunk and stiff, erect, pinnate The greater part of the palm collec- Ieaves, which is conspicuous in this tion is to be {ound in the Palm House house.Equally tall is a speciesof Pltoe- where it occupiesmuch of the high cen- nix, thotght to be P. recl,inata, with tral portion, and shareswith the screw- 62 PRINCIPES IVol.6 pines or Pandanaceaethe north wing. Occupying the centre of the house, a The southern wing is filled with cycads position it has had since lB7B, is the or sago-palms,a collection of this order Indian date Phoenix syluesLris,now a which is probably without rival in its fine specimen with trunk about 2I feet variety and range. high and total height of 36 feet. This speciesresembles the better-known date- Of the palms, the most striking Per- palm, with its stiff blue-grey foliage, but haps, on account o{ the great size of its is less valued for its fruit than for its pinnatefronds, is the sugar palm Arenga for brooms and basketwork, pinnata. Although the plant in the Palm leavesused rope, and its sap House is relatively young, with trunk its fibre made into down to sugar little more than 3 feet high, its great which in Bengal is boiled fronds rise up 30 feet and more to the on an extensive scale. gallery of the house. This is a Malayan Attracting the eye by their shapeliness Pritcharil'ia palm of many uses, a source of fibre, are two fine specimens of of toddy, and, most imPortantlY, of pacifica. Claimed by some to be without fan- sugar. The flow of sugary sap is in- rival for its ornamental effect, this ducedby wounding and then by.tapping leaved palm was found by Seeman, the t'iji, the stalk of the male inflorescence. The authority on palms,in the islandsof him juice, when boiled down, yields a dark and three seedlingswere sent by to Kew in This is no ordinary palm, impure sugar, much appreciated in the l86il,. in primitive Far East. for Seeman notes that, the life of the Polynesian islands at that greater eco- Less handsome, but of time, the ownership and use of this palm palm, nomic value, is the African oil were reserved for the aristocracy. grower in the Elaeis guineensis, a slow Another handsome fan-leaved palm, Palm House, crowded conditions of the labelled as Sabal Blackburniana, recalls source whose fruits are a commercial Lord Petre and his collection. for this of vegetable fat and soap. name was first applied to a palm given The palm reaching highest in the by him to a Mr. Blackburnein 1737.The house is a species oI Calamus, a rattan Kew specimen is indicated as coming or climbing palm, whose stem is less from Bermuda (1), and is the palmetto than two inches thick at the base, but which is so pleasing a feature of these whose topmost frond is more than 50 islands. Other palms attracting attention feet up, almost touching the glass roof. in the Palm House include the Chinese The grace and eleganceof this palm be- fan-palm, Liaistona chinensis, which lie its aggressive character. The stem grows rapidly and fruits readily in this is thickly covered with black spines; the housel the invaluable coconut, Coco.s fronds, also spiny, have. mid-ribs ex- nucifera, of which there is a young tended to form harpoon-like whips with plant; the fishtail palm, Caryota mitis, reflexed barbs. Armed with these, the with its bipinnate fronds endlng in rattan scrambles upwards through the wedge-shapedsections; and the Canary vegetation, intent only on raising itself date, Phoenix canariensis, its crowded above its neighbors into the sunlight. leaf-basesgeometrically arranged on the Not much less in height are some stem. palms of more independent habit, the The structure of the Palm House it- Ceroxylon to which reference was ear- 'And iI so should be called Sabal bermud,ana lier made,and a speciesoI Cryosophiln. IEd.]. t9621 HE\DERSON:TAJO CANYO\ self has not remained unaffectedby the passageof years.Some damage was suf- fered in wartime by bombs which, fall- ing near though not on the structure it- self,caused shattering of the glass.More disastrous than war-damage has been the corrosion of the iron-work fostered by a century bf moist heat. This so weakenedthe framework that in 1952 the building was declared unsafe and was closed to the public. With dismay it was learned that the structure was considered beyond repair and would need to be replaced.Further tests indi- cated that repair might yet be possible and a maior restoration was started in 1955. Seciion by section,the glass was removed, the girders strengthened by welding of steelplates, and all the iron- work cleanedfrom rust and treated. In replacementof the glass, longer curved 39. Armed with hooks on its leaves, the rat- panes, admitting more light, were in- tan scrambles above its neighbors. Photograph by R. R. Zabeatr. serted.When this was done, it was pos- sible to see the grace and lightness cf struction I11 years before. In re'open- Burton's design revealedaneli. ing the doors to the public, the Queen On May 29th, 1959, during the com- at the same time opened a new chapter memorationof the 200th anniversary of in the story of Burt