Seed Gallery

Study of Coco de Mer - Lodicea sechellarum

Illustration of the germinating nut, a snake twined around one of the trees and also a drawing of the cross section of the nut. The illustration includes hand written notes by Gordon on different aspects of the plant.
Major Charles George Gordon, (Charley Gordon and later Chinese Gordon') was one of the most celebrated soldiers and diplomats of the Victorian era. A somewhat eccentric character, Gladstone described him as a hero, and a "hero of heroes". His violent death at Khartoum was commemorated by George William Joy's painting General Gordon's Last Stand (1885). Sir Joseph Hooker enlisted Gordon's services in the collection of plants while Charles was appointed Governor of the Egyptian Equatorial Provinces. In 1881, Gordon went as Commanding Royal Engineer to Mauritius, and while visiting the Seychelles became interested in the Coco-de-mer. Specimens of both this tree and the breadfruit tree were sent by Gordon to Kew. In 1882 Gordon also sent an illustrated letter to Kew outlining the possibility of the Seychelles being the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden, also suggesting that the breadfruit tree was the Tree of Life and the Coc-de-Mer the Tree of Knowledge

© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Seed storage in the vault of the Millennium Seed Bank

Seed storage in the vault of the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB)at RBG Kew's Wakehurst site in West Sussex, UK.The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is the largest ex situ plant conservation programme in the world. The focus is on global plant life faced with the threat of extinction and plants of most use for the future. The seeds saved are conserved in seed banks as an insurance against the risk of extinction in their native habitat

© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

101. Palma Christi or Castor Oil, painted in Brazil

Behind are some leafless stems bearing clusters of the prickly seed-vessels at the top. The castor-oil tree (Ricinus com munis, L.) is a native of India, but it has long been cultivated in other warm countries, and has become naturalised in many plac

© RBG KEW

Art, Artist, Brazil, Brown, Butter Fly, Leaves, Marianne North, Painting, Red, Seed