Download the Annual Review 2009 - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

250
1759–2009
years
a cause to celebrate

Triumph and turmoil
1759 was Britain’s Year of Victories, securing an expanding empire.
In that year, Augusta, Princess of Wales and mother of George III,
created a new garden for medicinal plants – beginning the
transformation of the Royal estate at Kew into a world leading
scientific centre.
It was the Age of Enlightenment – a few miles away, the British
Museum opened to the public. The Agricultural and Industrial
Revolutions were under way, supporting a growing population
and fuelling the new era of global trade. The stage was set for
revolt in America and Europe.

hope in a threatened world
The world’s population has grown eight fold and economic development
has brought great progress and huge challenges. Now we understand
that the Earth’s resources are finite and that everyone is vulnerable to
climate change and environmental damage.
Yet, we still destroy the forests and vegetation on which we all depend,
and deforestation accounts for a fifth of world carbon emissions.
The world’s poor are already feeling the effects of climate change and
struggling to survive while running out of water and arable land.
By making better use of plants we can help to build
a sustainable future.
2009

250 years of global research ...
Early in George III’s reign, Sir Joseph Banks, wealthy and
energetic, took the lead at Kew. He saw the economic value
of plants and explored with Captain Cook on his first great
voyage. Through his patronage of science, Banks became
President of the Royal Society at the age of 35.
George III and Banks both died in 1820. After 20 years, a government commission
decided that Kew should be a public body. Sir William Hooker became its first
Director, re-invigorating plant expeditions as a cornerstone of empire. He built
the Herbarium, from his own vast collection, and the spectacular Palm House –
an amazing tropical experience for the public. Joseph Hooker succeeded his
father as Director. A great scientist, Joseph encouraged and supported Darwin.
By 1900, Kew had played a key role in the development of modern science and
helped to set up a network of botanical centres across an empire deeply involved
in the practical use of plants – quinine and sugar cane being key examples. Today,
the Empire has gone but the importance of the world’s plants is greater than ever,
and Kew’s resources have enormous value for sustainability and conservation.
www.kew.org/worldmap

uilding solutions for today...
The only way forward is through sustainable living and Kew
has an important role to play, one that may well dominate
its work for the next 250 years.
We must find ways for people to thrive without degrading the natural environment
or accelerating global warming. Plants are crucial to sustainability because they use
sunlight to give us oxygen, and take CO 2 from the air to grow, providing the
resources we use every day.
Plant science is improving food supplies, discovering new medicines, textiles, fuels
and many other products. By being able to identify and understand plants, we can
care for and even restore threatened habitats – and we can help communities
around the world to grow plants that will improve health and living conditions.
Subsistence farming
in NE Brazil

Understanding rainforests
The world’s vast rainforests hold extraordinary numbers of
species and play a crucial role in the world’s climate and
water flows. They are being lost to logging and agriculture
at a frightening rate.
The Amazon is the most extensive of all and Kew has a long history there. From
1849, Richard Spruce spent 15 years exploring the Amazon and the slopes of the
Andes. Despite chronic illness and many hardships, he was so thorough that his
collections and notes are a valued source for today’s botanists and conservationists.
More recently, Professor Sir Ghillean Prance (Kew’s Director from 1988–1999) led
many expeditions to the Amazon, revealing the complex forest ecosystems, one
example being the Brazil nut, a valuable crop that depends on specific bees which,
in turn, depend on particular orchids.
The Amazon forest is most threatened at its south-eastern edge. In this ‘arc of
deforestation’ Kew is working with Brazilian partners to map and classify vegetation,
helping government to plan new protected areas. Local botanists have been trained,
and a checklist of well over 1,300 species is growing by the day, filling a major gap
in our knowledge of the Amazon’s flora.
We now know that temperate rainforests also have a huge influence on rainfall
patterns. Already dramatically reduced, they too must be protected.
www.kew.org/science
The people who led Kew: The Earl of Bute (Kew 1750–1766)
Sir Joseph Banks (Kew c. 1773–1820)
1750 1756 1762 1768 1772 1774
1759
1762
1768
1773
Pagoda
completed
by William
Chambers.
1753
Linnaeus publishes
Species Plantarum,
founding the modern
classification system
for plants.
Princess Augusta
requests a ‘physic
garden’. Aiton appointed,
nine acres allocated for what
has become ‘Kew Gardens’.
Joseph Banks sends seeds to Kew
from HMS Endeavour while on
voyage with Captain Cook.
1771
Banks presented to George III,
he later describes his
appointment as a ‘kind of
superintendence’ over Kew.
1772
Francis Masson, Kew’s
first plant collector, goes
to South Africa with
Cook and returns with
thousands of plants.
Capability Brown
creates the Hollow,
now the
Rhododendron Dell.

In 2008/09 Kew’s pioneering work continued with many
partners, often in multi-disciplinary teams investigating the
ecology of threatened habitats.
In Mozambique, Kew led an expedition into the unexplored rainforest of Mount
Mabu. The team of 28, from six countries, discovered many new and rare species of
plants and animals. The work was funded by Defra’s Darwin Initiative and is helping
Mozambique to identify key areas for conservation in the face of rapid development
after periods of war and natural disaster.
A major priority for Kew and its partners is to digitise collections for access
around the world – supporting conservation, research and sustainability. With the
continued support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the important African
collections are now on-line. By the end of March, we had also scanned 54,000
Latin American specimens.
Mount Mabu
William Townsend Aiton (Head Gardener 1820–1841)
1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840
1784
Shakers sell paper
packets of seed in
New England.
1788 1802
HMS Bounty goes to
Tahiti with two Kew
gardeners and
collects 1,000
breadfruit plants.
En route to Jamaica,
the crew mutiny.
George III unites
the Richmond
and Kew estates.
Joseph Banks
1820
George III and
Banks die.
1830
Allan Cunningham,
Kew’s only overseas
plant collector, recalled.
1836
One of John Nash’s
80 foot stone
conservatories
transferred from
Buckingham
Palace to Kew.
1840
Kew transferred
from Crown to
government. Sir
William Hooker
appointed. Gardens
opened to all.

Banking on renewal
Seeds are nature’s time capsules; some can survive for
thousands of years in the right conditions. Although seeds
from ancient Egyptian tombs passed to us by the British
Museum in 1893 were not viable, there was then much
interest in seed storage. In 1897, Kew botanists proved that
seeds would germinate after storage at very low temperatures.
A century later, responding to the environmental crisis, Kew built the
Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst Place. The project has become
the world’s most ambitious conservation plan, a global partnership storing
3.5 billion seeds at -20°C. By the end of 2009 it will be protecting 30,000
species. The laboratories also study the biology of seeds, working out
reliable germination methods involving temperature and other conditions
so that the seeds will grow reliably when needed.
www.kew.org/msbp
Sir William Jackson Hooker (Director 1841–1865)
1841 1843 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853
1841
1848 1853
Joseph Hooker
brings plants from
Falklands to Kew
in glazed Wardian
cases, a new way
to keep plants
alive on voyages.
1845
Major extension and
landscape changes to
Kew Gardens.
Palm House
completed.
Herbarium built. Extended
five times, it now holds
seven million specimens.
1844
1846
Palm House completed
Building starts on Palm
House. Kew Annual
reports first published.
New Main
Gate opened
on Kew Green.

The Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) is a model of international
cooperation. The project is enabling applied research in
agriculture, water, energy and health. Examples include
countering salination in Australia, Pakistan and Egypt, and
the search for better forage species in the USA.
Images from Seeds,
time capsules of
life and fruit, edible,
inedible, incredible, Rob
Kesseler and Wolfgang
Stuppy, Papadakis
Publisher, London
Already, seed from the MSB is being used to restore species into damaged habitats.
Examples include restoration of prairie in the USA, management of fire-dependent
fynbos in South Africa, and restoration of mining sites in Australia and Madagascar.
Restoration work will become ever more important, and needs a clear strategy for
large-scale collaboration, so Kew held an international workshop on restoration
ecology in 2008. Funded by the Man Group plc Charitable Trust, we are appointing
a Head of Restoration Ecology to build up research and global partnerships.
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (Director 1865–1885)
1855 1860 1865 1870 1875 1880 1883
1858
1861
1865
1876 1883
Joseph Hooker and
Charles Lyell
introduce Darwin’s
and Wallace’s
papers on
evolution to the
Linnaean Society.
1859
Darwin’s Origin of
Species published.
Kew sends
Cinchona
trees to
India.
William Hooker
dies, succeeded by
his son Joseph
Dalton Hooker.
Wickham brings seeds of
Hevea brasiliensis (rubber) to
Kew. Plants sent to Sri Lanka
and Malaysia.
1876
Jodrell Laboratory built – work
begins on plant pathology, later
on the cells that produce latex.
Cross and
Bevan work
in Jodrell on
cellulose –
leading to the
development of
artificial fibres.

Research and
resources...
In the 1600s, the Jesuits brought
Cinchona bark to Europe from
Peru, having learned of its value
in treating malaria. A source of
quinine, Cinchona was vital to
the expansion of the British Empire
into Asia. Kew’s Economic Botany
Collection contains nearly 1,000
Cinchona barks, a testament to
Richard Spruce’s role in obtaining
Cinchona from the Andes in the 1860s.
The collections and expertise accumulated over
250 years at Kew provide an enormously useful
resource for the application of science to the
pressing issues of the 21st century.
www.kew.org/ecbot
Sir William Turner Thiselton Dyer (Director 1885–1905)
1885 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900
1889
1893
1898
1900
The giant Titan
Arum flowered
at Kew in June –
the first time
outside it’s
native Sumatra.
Ethel Sargent – first
female scientist in the
Jodrell Laboratory.
1896
Queen Victoria gives
Kew Palace and
Queen Charlotte's
Cottage and its
grounds to the public.
Amorphophallus
titanum
1895
Women first employed
as gardeners.
Index Kewensis, an
ongoing index of plant
names begins, funded
by Darwin's legacy.
The first two volumes
contain 400,000 names.
1897
Kew scientists study effects
of freezing on seeds.
Jodrell
Laboratory
works on
photosynthesis.

... for a sustainable world
Today, Kew’s work in economic botany emphasises
sustainability and respect for national rights. A key
objective is to find species that will support
communities in areas under stress.
In sub-Saharan Africa, commercial pesticides can
be expensive and are often diluted by middlemen,
so farmers end up with ineffective products that
encourage resistance. Plants can provide homegrown
alternatives but we need to understand
their chemistry to help the world’s poorest
farmers use them effectively and safely.
Working with the University of Greenwich
and African partners in Zimbabwe, Malawi
and Zambia, Kew is investigating several
species. Securidaca longepedunculata is
a particularly interesting tree with many
uses. Mixing the root bark into stored
grain can protect it from insects until
the next harvest.
www.kew.org/discovery
Delegate from Zambia on
Kew’s Botanic Gardens
Education course.
Sir David Prain (DIrector 1905–1922) Sir Arthur William Hill (Director 1922–1941)
1902 1908 1914 1920 1926 1932 1938
1902
1913 1918 1920
1930
1937
Love Lane, the
road down the
middle of Kew
Gardens, closed to
traffic. It is now
called Holly Walk.
Suffragettes attack
glasshouses, and
subsequently burn
down Kew's tea
pavilion – for which
two are jailed.
Potatoes grown
for war effort.
Virginia
Woolf
publishes
Kew Gardens,
an experimental story
associated with
impressionism.
First commercial
seed banks for crops.
Imperial Bureau of
Mycology moves to
site by Herbarium.
1928
Motor lorry replaces
one of Kew’s six
working horses.
Last of the Shire
horses replaced by
another breed – a
fifth Suffolk Punch.

Darwin and DNA
Darwin’s greatest ally was Sir Joseph Hooker. Their letters
span most of their careers. Hooker kept proofs of Darwin’s
journal of the HMS Beagle voyage under his pillow before his
own expedition to the southern oceans. With the geologist
Charles Lyell, Hooker arranged the presentation of work on
evolution by Darwin and Wallace to the Linnean Society in
1858 – at the time it attracted little interest!
Darwin saw the need to list and classify plants as a first step to understanding
nature and arranged a legacy for Kew to fund a comprehensive list. This has
evolved into the International Plant Names Index in collaboration with Harvard
and the Australian National Herbarium – it has over 1.3 million entries online.
www.ipni.org
Sir Geoffrey Evans (Director 1941–43) Sir Edward James Salisbury (Director 1943–56) Sir George Taylor (Director 1956–71)
1939 1944 1949 1952 1960 1962
1948
1952
1961
1962
Horses no
longer in use.
1939
Dig for Victory!
Vegetables and
medicinal
plants grown
at Kew.
By now only two
horses remain.
1950
Chilean Wine Palm,
planted 1843, flowers
and fruits for first time.
Jubaea chilensis
Work at Cambridge
and London leads to
Crick and Watson’s
discovery of the
structure of DNA.
Today, Kew’s Jodrell
Laboratory uses DNA
to understand
the genetic diversity
of plants.
The last Wardian
Case arrives by
sea, containing
plants from Fiji.

Finding another Darwin
The Wellcome Trust has commissioned Kew to provide an
ambitious science project designed to start a lifetime’s interest
in plant science. The Great Plant Hunt has delivered treasure
chests to every state-maintained primary school in the UK
with experiments and activities for children aged 5 to 11.
Most great names in botany, including Banks and Darwin,
started young – we hope there will now be many more!
In February 2009, Professor Mark Chase, Head of Kew’s Jodrell Laboratory, was
awarded the Linnean Society’s Darwin Medal, marking the 200th anniversary of
Darwin’s birth, and recognising the impact of Mark’s work using
DNA to determine the evolutionary relationships of plants.
Soon, a DNA ‘barcoding system’ may help to identify
plants in the field – offering great potential for
conservation and sustainable living.
www.kew.org/learn
Sir David Attenborough
helping to launch The Great
Plant Hunt at a primary
school in March 2009.
John Heslop-Harrison (Director 1971–76) John Patrick Brenan (Director 1976–81)
1963 1966 1969 1972 1975 1978 1981
1963
1973
1978
Three year
Diploma course
introduced.
1970
The Plant Physiology
Department moves
to Wakehurst Place.
1965
Seed research begins
in Kew’s Plant
Physiology Department.
Biochemical
systematics work
takes off at Kew,
funded by the
Agricultural
Research Council.
1974
Kew’s first expedition
devoted to seed collection
.
Low temperature
seed bank set up
in the Wakehurst
Place Mansion.
1979
Minicomputer used to
store seed bank data.

A very public Royal garden
In the 18th century, the Royal Family opened the Kew estate
to the public, usually twice a week. From 1841, Sir William
Hooker added attractions – his stunning new Palm House
and a new Museum and Waterlily House were soon in place.
Over the years, Kew Gardens grew as the Royal Family donated
extra land. In 1965 Kew took on the management of the magnificent
Wakehurst Place estate on the High Sussex Weald. This has also
become a major visitor attraction, and is home to the Millennium
Seed Bank. This year many new wild species were added to the
garden, including new collections from Tasmania and New Zealand.
In April 2008, Kew opened The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of
Botanical Art, funded by Defra, Dr Sherwood and her family.
The new building stands alongside an 1882 gallery built to house
the amazing paintings of plants and landscapes created by
Marianne North during her remarkable travels around the world.
Heritage Lottery funds will deliver half of the £3.7 million needed
to refurbish the Marianne North Gallery.
We launched the Rhizotron and Xstrata Treetop Walkway in
May 2008,with financial support from Defra, Xstrata, Hanson
and the Hanson Environment Trust, to help visitors appreciate how
trees support life.
In May 2009, Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness
The Prince Philip helped us to celebrate Kew’s 250th anniversary.
www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens
Ernest Arthur Bell (Director 1981–88)
Professor Sir Ghillean Prance (Director 1988–99) Sir Peter Robert Crane (Director 1999–2006)
1985 1990 1993 1996 1997 2000 2003
1987
1996
1997
2003
Princess of Wales
Conservatory opened.
Restored Japanese
Gateway and
landscape opened
by Her Imperial
Highness Princess
Sayako.
The Wellcome Trust
donates money to enable
building of the
Millennium Seed Bank.
Collaborative agreements
signed with 34 countries,
establishing the MSB as an
international partnership.
1989
First full time seed
collector appointed.
1995
Seed Bank wins Millennium
National Lottery funding.
International Plant
Names Index
launched (Kew,
Harvard, Australian
National Herbarium).
2003
Kew Gardens inscribed as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.

www.kew.org/visit-wakehurst
Stephen Donald Hopper (Director 2006–)
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2004
2006
2007 2008 2009
Billionth seed banked
at the Millennium
Seed Bank.
Rhizotron and Xstrata
Treetop Walkway, and
The Shirley Sherwood
Gallery open.
Plant-themed play
area opens for children,
an instant success.
The Davies
Alpine House
opens. Lord
May opens
Wolfson Wing
of Jodrell
Laboratory.
The award-winning
Sackler Crossing
opens to bridge
the Lake.
1,000,000,000
The Queen and Prince Philip
cut the cake to celebrate
Kew’s 250th Anniversary.
2009 Herbarium and Library
extended to house the 30,000
specimens arriving each year,
with better security and access.

Looking ahead
For 250 years, Kew has developed world-leading resources
and capabilities in plant science. Our future strategy will
make the best possible use of these resources to meet the
major threats to humanity posed by climate change and
the degradation of biodiversity.
Kew’s Breathing Planet Programme is based on the major priorities and obligations
expressed in the UN Millennium Development Goals and Global Strategy for
Plant Conservation. Supporting the UK Government’s aims in sustainability and
international development, it aims to achieve major impacts on the ground
through large-scale international partnerships aligned to seven key activities:
1 Driving discovery and global access to information on plants and fungi
2 Identifying species and regions at high risk
3 Helping global conservation programmes on the ground
4 Safeguarding and enabling use of 25% of plant species through
the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) project
5 Building a global science network to restore damaged habitats
6 Growing locally appropriate species for a changing world
7 Using botanic gardens to inform and inspire
Our first and greatest priority for 2010, the UN’s International Year of
Biodiversity, is to ensure the future of the Millennium Seed Bank as an
ongoing collaboration with existing and new partner countries. We aim to
build on its remarkable success by protecting 75,000 plant species by 2020.
Want to read more about Kew and its work?
The Gardens at Kew by Allen Paterson – a richly illustrated book, describing the
development of Kew, its landscapes and people.
The History of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew by Ray Desmond – the authorised,
comprehensive history of Kew.
Mahogany – an identification guide to trade timbers, one of Kew’s specialist
books of the year. Defra is funding work by Kew and Wildlife Forensics on
methods of identifying tropical hardwoods protected by the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Genera Palmarum – a landmark work on the evolution and classification of palms.
Flora of Tropical East Africa – an indispensable serial publication for botanists
and conservationists, recording biodiversity in East Africa.
www.kewbooks.com

Outcomes and funding
Outcome 2008/09
1. Publications 300
2. High impact publications 60
3. Conservation and sustainability assessments 2,663
(new basis)
4. Major habitat conservation surveys 7
5. Training delivered – capacity building (student days) 25,330
6. Access to the collections: live visits 27,982
on-line visits 2,050,000
7. Collections digitally catalogued (cumulative) 539,880
8. Status of the collections (% currently accessible) 84%
9. Visits to the gardens 1,818,000
10. Web visits (millions) 3,590,000
11. Staff and volunteer retention (%) 85%
12. Total revenue generated (£’000) £52,100*
Explanatory notes and full details of Kew’s targets and results are given on
pages 6–8 of the formal Annual Report and Accounts 2008/09 available at:
www.kew.org/about-kew
Income 2008/09 (£’000)
Costs 2008/09 (£’000)
Staff and other costs 2008/09 (£’000)
Other grants, gifts
and donations
14,566
Grantin-aid
26,600
Capital
investment
12,573
Governance
157
Capital costs
12,573
Staff costs
24,424
Visitor
income and
trading
11,787
Total income
55,044*
All other income
2,091
Trading
4,230
Visitor
activities
6,713
Total costs
60,380
Research
and
conservation
36,707
Other
operating costs
23,383
Total costs
60,380
* The ‘Total revenue generated’ in the table is lower than the ‘Total income’ in the chart mainly because the former
includes only the net profit contribution from Kew Enterprises whereas the latter includes the gross income

Contact details
The Director
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB
United Kingdom
Email: director@kew.org
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8332 5000
Fax:+44 (0) 20 8332 5197
Visitor information
Kew Gardens
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8332 5655
Wakehurst Place
Tel: +44 (0) 1444 894 066
Photography: Jeff Eden, Thomas Timberlake, Andrew McRobb, Rob Kesseler, Wolfgang Stuppy, James Morley
HM the Queen and
HRH The Prince Philip at Kew
Gardens on 5 May 2009.
They are accompanied by
Kew’s Chairman of Trustees,
The Earl of Selborne (left),
and Kew’s Director,
Professor Stephen Hopper.
2Printed on 100% recycled paper.