Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (London)

In London, there is the world’s leading organisation called Royal Botanic Gardens. It is a non-departmental public body located at Kew in London. It exhibits the various species of botanic plants and fungi. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (London) covers 330 acres of land. This garden is well known for its botanic species collections, unbelievable history, adorable architecture, and contribution to Indian science education and research. It is a famous international research centre and educational institution.

Royal Botanic Gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (London) was founded in 1759 by Princess Augusta. The chairperson of Royal Botanic Gardens is Dame Amelia Fawcett. The director of Royal Botanic Gardens is Richard Deverell. It is exactly located at the Kew and is a site of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. 

The mission of Royal Botanic Gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens focuses on scientific research and the discovery of information about botanic plants and fungi. It also influences the classification of plants, horticulture, and botany. 

Global centre

The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (London) mainly includes varieties of plants and fungi. Since we can find many species and classifications of preserved plants and fungi, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (London) is called the global centre of excellence in the world. Apart from that, we can find seed banks also. It supports environmental conservation and species identifications. 

Plant Study material

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (London) acts as a study reference for opening new herbariums, botanical gardens, research centres, and educational institutes related to Botany. It allows the researchers to take plant samples for their research. We can find around 50,000 classifications of flowers, trees, and plants. It includes both exotic and native species.

Victorian Glasshouse

There is a place in the Royal Botanic Gardens called Temperate House, which is the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse. This Temperate House consists of 10,000 plant species, which especially have origins in the temperate region. These plants include mostly endangered rare classifications. The Royal Botanic Gardens attracts plenty of tourists, researchers, botanists, and visitors. Many special programs will be conducted like plant exhibitions, tours, events, and festival celebrations. 

Palm house

Similar to the Temperate House, we have another glasshouse called Palm house, which consists of plants from tropical regions. Here, the rainforest climate attracts visitors. Near to it, we have the Princess of Wales Conservatory. Here, we can experience a series of ten climates from the humid tropics under one roof.

Rose Garden 

Tourists mainly visit the Royal Botanic Gardens for its attractive collection of plants. The Royal Botanic Gardens has 8 beds of plants, in a walkway of 320 m. It is named the Arboretum or rose garden. The nearby lake is an additional attraction. The Rose garden consists of around 2,000 plant species and 14,000 sweeps of trees. It is a botanical treasure. It is also called the Great Broad walk borders. It is called the longest double herbaceous broad border in London.

Treetop walkway

Visitors to the Treetop walkway can experience the treetop view from the royal residence. 

Art Gallery

In the  Royal Botanic Gardens, we have an art gallery called the walls of Marianne North gallery. It consists of art related to botanical flora and plant species made by  Marianne.

Kew palace

Kew Palace is a royal building where King George II used to reside. It is also named as Georgian palace.  It is accompanied by a beautiful garden nearby. On the opposite of this Kew Palace, we have a Queen Charlotte cottage, which is made up of aesthetic bluebell wood. It is 300 years old and depicts the historical legacy. 

Great Pagoda

In the  Royal Botanic Gardens, the Great Pagoda is a spectacular building, which was designed by William Chambers. We could find the wood carvings of 80 dragons in Kew gardens. It has been open to visitors since 2018 after being renovated.

Databases launched by the  Royal Botanic Gardens

Apart from various specimens, plant gardens, and herbarium, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (London) maintains a digital database of a wide variety of plants and fungi. These resources include checklists of plants, neotropics data, plant indices, and the plant list. 

Conclusion

The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (London) is a botanical garden and is a site of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is also a World Heritage Site, as designated by UNESCO. We can find a wide variety of plant species and fungi species. The Royal Botanic Gardens influences and focuses on the botanic legacy, architecture, and research. Apart from gardens, it encloses the Kew Palace, Glasshouse, treetop walkway, and art gallery. Apart from physical resources, it also provides a digital library that consists of plant databases and indexes. It is very helpful for education and research.