Our new display, Leafy Legacies, has just opened! It explores staff histories preserved within the Library & Archives collections (Tues - Thurs 10.00 - 4.00). Learn some of the fascinating personal stories of those who have helped the organisation thrive over the past 200 years.

Many tend to associate carnivorous plants with the #Venusflytrap but there are over 600 other meat-eating species. Illustrated below, Nepenthes (or 'monkey cups' plant) consumes mainly insects🦟, but larger specimens have also adapted to devour rodents!

#WorldCarnivorousPlantDay

#EYANature is coming to an end and we couldn't let it pass without showcasing at least one item from our collections. This volume, titled 'Air Pollution', includes detailed lists and correspondence on the effects of fog and smoke on the plants in the Gardens. 🧐

The emergence of cherry blossom is a classic sign of the arrival of #spring . This illustration, published in 1921, depicts Prunus serrulata, a Japanese variation of the flower, now cultivated in the UK. Visit the Gardens to catch the last of this spring's cherry blossom at Kew!🌸

Today is #StGeorgesDay and we're celebrating with these beautiful botanical illustrations. One is of 'Lathyrus odoratus', sometimes called St George due to its red and white colouring (though perhaps not very visible here). And the other is - of course - a rose! 🌹

Despite the bulky volume of some #herbal s , these books were very well used and often bear elaborate #marginalia as a result. Here's a 👉 #manicule and a snake from our 1485 Ortus Sanitatis, printed by P. Schoeffer. #ManiculeMonday #MarginaliaMonday #rarebooks #herbal #incunabula

Our Archives materials relating to the Living Collections are a treasure trove of plant exchanges, connections and observations 🧐 These are lists of plants sent by Dora Stafford to Kew and we can see how well they did in the Gardens! Can you spot the 'gem' in the lists?

Today is #PlantAppreciationDay and our team would like to mark the occasion by choosing some favourites from amongst our collections! Though the choice is always a tricky one 🌺 These gooseberries and gorse illustrations will brighten up your day 🌻

During our current inventory, we came across this beautiful painting of an Alcea flower- also known as #Hollyhock . Whilst a popular garden choice, Hollyhock is also the feature of the annual Kyoto festival 'Aoi Matsuri', where they are celebrated for their legendary significance.

One of the oldest Archive records of plants in our Gardens is this 'Catalogue of Trees and Shrubs' from 1773. It was found in Windsor Castle library almost 200 years later and transferred by the Royal Librarian to the Keeper of the Herbarium & Library, Arthur Cotton.

It is the last week of Orchids of Lindisfarne, which features paintings of orchids by botanical artist Reinhild Raistrick. Come along to the Herbarium at Kew Green to visit, open Tuesday-Thursday 10am-4pm.

#BotanicalIllustration #OrchidsofLindisfarne #KewLibraryandArchives

A Transylvanian flora with a black leather binding and edges that remind us of bloodshot eyes... Published in Sibiu in 1866. Any attempts at #deciphering the #handwriting on the title page? #ForeEdgeFriday #Romania #Romania n #aroundtheworldin80books #RareBooks

Our Archives team recently repackaged a new accession for our Charles Baron Clarke collection, including these letters. A very compact way of writing correspondence - unusually neat compared to the majority of our letters 🧐

#archives

Happy Easter from the Library, Illustrations & Archives teams here at Kew! 🌺 Lilium longiflorum is also called the Easter Lily or Bermuda Easter Lily! In one of our Goods Inwards volumes and some letters we can see that Kew received Lilium harrisii from W T James in Bermuda.

If you are quick, you might just catch the magnolias in bloom in the Gardens – a sign that Spring is on the way! This illustration of Magnolia campbelli is from the book ‘Illustrations of Himalayan plants’ (1855), and is by the prolific illustrator Walter Hood Fitch. #magnolias

This stunner from our collection is the 1860 'Some of my bush friends in Tasmania: native flowers, berries, and insects, drawn from life, illustrated in verse, and briefly described' by Louisa Anne Meredith. #aroundtheworldin80books #Tasmania #RareBooks #WomenArtists #moths

The use of a miswak - a twig from the plant Salvadora persica - for tooth hygiene is an essential element of religious ablutions for many Muslims. Miswak has been shown to prevent tooth decay and gum disease. (from 'Plants of the coast of Coromandel', 1795) #wudu #medicinalplants

Naturalistic planting in #garden ing may seem like a very modern thing, but Irish gardener and writer William Robinson already promoted the idea in 1870 with his book 'The Wild Garden'. Our first edition copy has a beautiful green Victorian binding.
#rarebooks #shelfie #garden