Images Dated 2005 September

The Wardian case, ca 1940 - 1950

Image of a horticulturalist packing plants into a Wardian Case ready for transportation. The Wardian case was a portable airtight greenhouse developed by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward to protect live plant material during transportation. The Wardian case was a portable airtight greenhouse developed by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791-1868). As he lived in the docklands area of London, Ward's interest in amateur botany was thwarted by the polluted, sooty air that killed everything he tried to grow. After noticing that seedlings flourished in a glass jar and were protected from London's smoky environment, Ward created the Wardian Case; it revolutionised botany in the 19th century, allowing live plants to be transported across the globe

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