182 colour r98 b/w illustrations This new edition of the classic work Kew: The History of the Royal Botanic Gardens is the definitive history of the world's greatest botanic gaardens. Comprehensively revised, this stunning, richly illustraqted reference takes in every aspect of Kew's history over two centuries - its origin, the pivotal role in collecting, classifying and identifying the world's plants, the commeercial crops it gave the British Empire, to being a world renowned institution at the cutting edge of plant science. > RBG Kew is home to the world's greatest botanical gardens with extensive living collections, millions of herbarium specimens, a rapidly expanding seed bank, and an important liberary and repository of botanical art. It is an international centre for economic botany research in taxonomy, molecular biology and biological interactions. World plant conservation is one of its principal misswions, and its work includes scientific expeertise in plant diversity and sustainable development in the UK and around the world.
