Botanical Expedition! - Botanical Research Institute of Texas

iridos volume 18 no 2
Shinners Society
12
The landscape
design and collec-
visits Kew
of specimen cases in
original wooden cabinets
tions of unusual
were interspersed with
and beautiful plants
individual research
at London’s Royal
carrels. Before electric
Botanic Gardens,
light, these balconies
Kew, have delighted
were illuminated entirely
visitors for three
by daylight flooding
centuries. Kew’s
glorious Victorian
In the Kew Herbarium from top left to bottom right:
Sy Sohmer, Debbie Whitehead, Andrea “Tudy”
through the glass roof,
limiting research time
glass and iron Palm Harkins, Judith Sear, Sara Sohmer, and Mary Palko. on winter days.
House, where a cycad
The 7-million-
presented to the Gardens in 1775 still flourishes, specimen herbarium is also housed in several
thrilled me as a child. There, inside the Palm newer buildings, and further construction is
House, I once walked through a luxuriant tropical underway in part because plant specimens vary
forest; outside austere post-World War II London more in size and shape than do books in a world-
rose again from flames.
class research library. We pored over the slim
This year, in May, during a week-long London folders of dried and pressed plants traditionally
trip organized by Mary Palko (BRIT board
associated with botanical specimens, but were also
member) and led by Sy and Sara Sohmer to introduced to deep individual drawers containing,
coincide with the Chelsea Flower Show, members for example, a single, large tropical seed, a huge
of BRIT’s Shinners Society (planned giving)
cactus pad, or a fleshy leaf the size of a serving
enjoyed the gardens and conservatories of Kew platter. In the basement, the Spirit Collection
in perfect late spring sunshine. Bob O’Kennon (for non-botanists an intriguing and appropriate
(retired American Airlines pilot and current BRIT conjunction of name and location) requires an
board member) pointed out blooming hawthorns; entire floor below ground level with dedicated
he carried out years of research on Crataegus in shelves and drawers for vials and bottles of pickled
the gardens and herbarium at Kew during brief and preserved plant specimens.
layovers from flights between Dallas/Fort Worth From the specimen repository to the library
Airport and London.
and the publications department, with its gorgeous
For Sy and Bob, it was a homecoming. For botanical illustrations, the herbarium hums with
Shinners members, it was a privileged tour of the life. Staff tea times are not merely informal coffee
world’s most extensive botanical collection.
breaks. Morning and afternoon, the large, airy
The day began as Daniela Zappi, assistant break room is filled with personnel and visiting
keeper for regional teams, welcomed us in the researchers in collegial discussion.
original herbarium building and guided us through While Kew’s London headquarters specializes
Wing C, built in 1877. We ascended wrought in preserved plant material, Kew’s second facility
iron spiral staircases to balconies where hundreds at Wakehurst Place in the countryside south
by
Judith sear,
Brit Board
memBer
PHOTOS By BOB O’KENNON
of London houses the Millennium Seed Bank
Project. Once again, Shinners Society members
were welcomed by Andy Jackson, the director, who
explained that by 2010 the Bank aims to collect
and conserve 24,000 plant species in danger of
extinction—representing 10 percent of the world’s
seed-bearing flora. Long-term seed viability is
preserved by below ground storage in temperaturecontrolled
vaults.
The vaults resembled radiation fall-out shelters,
suggesting that, in case of the complete demise of
life as we know it, the sole survivors might be
Kew’s botanists and their remarkable supply of
seeds.
The giant leaves of the water lily Victoria amazonica
A profusion of lily species