Book Review: The Plant Messiah

Most botanical biographies seem to be about the great plant hunters of the past. The Plant Messiah is the story of Kew’s modern-day botanical horticulturist, Carlos Magdalena. Rather than collecting exotic species, he’s out to save them.

Early Beginnings

A Spanish journalist called Carlos ‘The Plant Messiah’. The name stuck. The seeds were sown in childhood. Carlos learnt how to grow and graft plants at a young age. His propagation skills and sheer determination earned him a place on Kew’s prestigious horticultural diploma. His story opens a window on the extraordinary conservation work taking place at Kew and across the world.

Perseverance

As you turn each page, you will each endangered species to survive. Carlos’s perseverance despite repeated failures is remarkable. My heart sank as he reported a failure. He does not seem to dwell on the failures. Years seem to pass trying different methods to no avail. Thankfully, there are success stories too.

Adventures

This Spanish-born plant messiah travels the world. His adventures are worthy of the historical plant hunters. A human ladder in Mauritius, a crocodile watch in Australia and plant theft are just a few of the anecdotes.

It’s not just about saving plants personally. Wherever he goes, Carlos teaches the local people his propagation skills. This even finds him teaching after midnight in Bolivia.

Water Lily Obsession

The water lily tales stand out. The importance of international cooperation between the world’s botanical gardens is underlined by Carlos’ success with Nymphaea thermarum. An exchange of seeds with Bonn sees him try to grow the species beyond germination into maturity. The Plant Messiah succeeds thanks to a combination of  obsessional persistence and a ‘tortellini moment’. Only after his success does he hear that he had been working with the last five seeds in existence. A rat ate the last plant in Germany.

In the Water Lily House at Kew Gardens

Publisher

The Plant Messiah has Penguin Books as its publisher. It is unusual for a botanical subject to have such a mainstream publisher. I hope that Penguin will be inspired to take on more botanical subjects and authors at this critical time for endangered species. This inspirational book has been well-ghostwritten and edited for an enthralling read.

What Next?

The book ends with The Plant Messiah returning to Kew with ‘a new waterlily species to show the world’. It doesn’t feel like the end of his story. There simply has to be another instalment. The epilogue ends with a prayer, urging everyone to be a plant messiah. You don’t have to travel as far as Carlos to help plant diversity and conservation.

‘We have been given one earth and we are not managing it properly.

We don’t deserve another.

Instead, let’s turn things around and garden our way out of this apocalypse,

green up the world and plant our future.’

Amen.

Magdalena, Carlos:

The Plant Messiah. Adventures in Search of the World's Rarest Species. 

Publisher: Penguin Books (2017)

Meeting Kew’s Daisy Experts

Insects love the Daisy family. Daisies were my first botanical love as I sat on my grandparents’ front lawn. Their showy flowers cheer us with a profusion of colour and the happy sound of buzzing bees.

It was with great relish that I visited Kew Gardens for the latest in the popular series of Meet the Expert tours. September’s focus is on Compositae (Asteraceae), more generally known as the Daisy or Sunflower plant family. In the first tour of the month, Dr Nick Hind, Kew’s Compositae expert and Lucy Bell, horticulturalist on the Great Broad Walk Borders shared their knowledge and enthusiasm with our lucky group of multinational visitors.

Compositae or Asteraceae are the world’s largest family of flowering plants. They grow on every continent except Antarctica. Kew’s State of the World’s Plants 2017 estimated the family’s size at 1,600 genera with 32,581 species. September is a particularly good time to admire their late summer colour.

Echinacea, Cone Flower

History

The tour began at the edge of Kew’s Great Broad Walk Borders. Kew has relatively few herbaceous borders, as its main focus is on plant science, conservation and research. Lucy Bell explained the history of the Great Broad Walk Borders. The Broad Walk is a wide path that runs from the Palm House to the Orangery. Kew’s first official director, William Hooker, appointed Decimus Burton as its architect and William Nesfield as landscape architect.

What’s in the name?

The existing borders maintained by Lucy and her assistant Maya are 3 years old and were created as part of a colourful redesign. Lucy drew our attention to the radiate heads of the family with its ray and disk florets. What most of us assume is a single flower is in fact a series of compact inflorescences. These composite flowers are the origin of the daisy family’s oldest Latin name of Compositae. Asteraceae is accepted as an equally valid family name. It is named after the star-like inflorescence of the Aster, the first-named or type genus in the family.

Star-shaped flower

Pollination

A wide range of pollinators visit the Daisy family. As if on cue, the pollinators arrived on Helenium. The flowers open systematically The red and yellow ray florets attract pollinators to the discoid florets. The changing shape of the flowers help ensure that bees do not waste time with already pollinated flowers.

Other Compositae on view in the Great Broad Walk Borders were: Achillea, Aster, Centaurea, Cichorium, Cynara, Echinacea, Echinops, Heliopsis, Inula, Ostospermum, Rudbeckia and Symphyotrichum.

Achillea

Gardening Advice
For the gardeners in our group, our expert horticulturalist extolled the virtues of the Chelsea Chop. This term refers to the practice of reducing plants by a third in May around the time of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It seems brutal at the time. The rewards are reduced staking and more compact growth.

Rudbeckia

In the Kew Herbarium
For the second part of the tour, our group were lucky to go behind the scenes on an exclusive visit Kew’s Herbarium. Our expert, Dr Nick Hind, met us there. He is Kew’s expert in the scientific research and conservation of Compositae. He proudly advised that he is Kew’s oldest member of staff, but his enthusiasm for Kew, the Herbarium and his research subject are self-evidently undimmed. In fact, not only did we learn about the purpose and functioning of the Herbarium, we also heard more about the building’s architecture than I heard during my 2017 Open House London tour.

Dr Nick Hind in Kew's Herbarium with open Rubiaceae cabinet behind

Dr Hind Explains Herbaria
Dr Hind explained that a herbarium is a store of pressed, dried plants. We heard about the process and labelling in detail. Kew’s Herbarium is one of the largest in the world. At the mention of fireproof cabinets, my blood ran cold thinking of the devastating fire at the Brazilian National Museum just the day before. The fire has underlined the importance of digitising Kew’s collections and those of other precious collections worldwide. The original specimens remain irreplaceable.

In the Newer Vaults

Following a reorganisation, the two largest collections, Compositae (Asteraceae) and Leguminosae (Fabaceae) were rehoused. Dr Hind took us into the modern Compositae vault. Gone are the cupboards. Specimens are stored in fireproof boxes in compactor shelving to optimise space. The vault is air-conditioned and temperature-controlled between 14 and 15°C. Beetles are the bane of every herbarium curator. The low temperature prevents them from breeding. If two spells of freezing aren’t enough before the specimens arrive in the vault, any recalcitrant beetle will soon find itself headed for the freezers again just two floors away.

Dr Hind claimed or admitted that he is the person responsible for the reclassification of the Michaelmas Daisy within the family. Gardeners may find this confusing, however the name changes reflect advances in DNA research and increased botanical understanding.

As well as showing us specimens collected by Charles Darwin, Dr Hind shared his latest work with us. He is currently working on an article for Curtis’s Botanical magazine on Echinacea tennesseensis. This is a long-flowering plant with beautiful pink ray florets and erect stem. Inevitably, herbarium specimens lose colour in the drying process. By placing a botanical drawing alongside, Dr Hind brought the specimen’s full glory to life.

As we left the building, we were lucky to meet the talented Japanese botanical artist, Masumi Yamanaka, with her flower specimen in hand. As much we value digitisation to preserve the past, we must surely retain the breathtaking skills of botanical artists too. Digital copies can have the unfortunate habit of becoming inaccessible due to software updates. Original artworks continue to enthrall and inspire across the ages.

The tour overran, such was the enthusiasm of our expert guides. I’m looking forward to my next tour.

The Compositae tour will be repeated at 11.30am on Tuesdays in September 2018. I noted that due to popularity, the booking system for Kew’s Meet the Expert tours has changed. You now need to book a free ticket on entry via the kiosks at Victoria Gate. You can book from 10am. There are only 15 places each Tuesday so it is best to book as early as possible to avoid disappointment. You will be collected from Victoria Plaza/the information desk just before or at 11.30am. Enjoy!

Previous Kew Blogs and Videos

Happy Fungus Day! –  8 October 2017 –

(NB: State of the World’s Plants Symposium 2018 to focus on fungi)

Early Spring at Wakehurst Place (+ video) – 5 March 2017

Kew’s Indian Orchid Festival (+ video) – 26 February 2017

Christmas Spectacle at Kew Gardens – 2 December 2016

From British Winter to Brazilian Tropics – 2 March 2016

Happy Fungus Day!

Unless you are a mycologist, you may not appreciate just how amazing and important fungi are. This weekend the British Mycological Society is seeking to raise awareness and interest in the fungal kingdom. I attended a Meet the Expert tour last week with Dr Martyn Ainsworth at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Fascinating fungi:

• Fungi are all around us, largely hidden underground awaiting their opportunity to emerge. They spread out underground far beyond what we see on the surface. You can see evidence on Google Earth of their rings at Copenhagen Airport.
• Fungi have been reclassified. They are neither plants nor animals. They are mobile - albeit not as mobile as animals.
• If you want to identify a fungus, you need to identify the tree that is growing on, in or under. The fungi may be feeding off old roots underground if you can’t find the associated tree.
• Mycologists need to develop their sense of smell. It’s a whole new world of notes like wine – although some smells are decidedly unpleasant. Truffles are irresistible to pigs because they smell of pig pheromones.
• Fungi conduct wars on their competitors. They zap each other.
• It is claimed that Ink Caps supplied the ink for the Magna Carta.

Gardeners asked about the feared Honey Fungus. Dr Ainsworth explained that Honey Fungus is not a problem in natural woodlands. Here, competitors keep it in check. Only the unnatural environment of modern gardens let it spread unchecked.

We also heard how some fungi work in harmony with trees and plants. Given the rate at which man is using up the world’s resources, we could end up relying heavily on fungi as a food source. Researchers still have a lot to learn on how they survive.

Dr Ainsworth is working on gaining greater protection for UK fungi. Only 10 fungi have some protection at present. Some fungi are sensitive to nitrogen. Wax Caps have declined due to grassland loss.

Could the UK could end up offering fungi their last stand? What would the mushroom-loving French would think of that? What effect will Brexit have on European fungal cooperation?

Mushrooms were on the menu in Kew’s Orangery restaurant. Let’s hope that politicians and scientists won’t let Brexit get in the way of joint European efforts on fungal conservation. Timely action is needed to secure this key food source for the future.

Key Terminology

Term	Definition
chitin (n)	Tough, semi-transparent substance that is the main component of the exoskeletons of arthropods, such as the shells of crustaceans and outer body of insects. It is also found in the cell walls of fungi and algae.
fungarium (n)	Collection of preserved specimens of fungus.
lignum (n)	Woody tissue, tissue of a plant.
mycelium (n), (pl. mycelia)	Vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a thread-like to felt-like mass.
mycologist (n)	Specialist in mycology; person who studies fungi and fungal life.
mycology (n)	Branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their biochemical and genetic properties, taxonomy, use as a food source and for medicinal purposes and toxicity.
spore (n)	General term for the reproductive unit of a fungus.
symbiosis (n)	Non-parasitic relationship between living organisms to mutual benefit.

Early Spring at Wakehurst Place (+video)

Man has had a close relationship with Nature throughout time. The passage from winter into spring has always been a special time. It is commemorated in spring festivals throughout the world. The first rays of spring sunshine and flowers bring smiles to faces even in dense cities. 

I was lucky to spend a bright sunny day at Wakehurst Place recently. Wakehurst Place is home to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank. Its conservation work and scientific research should help to ensure that Man's special connection to Nature continues for centuries to come. (The Vimeo video of my walk appears at the end of this blog).

A huge seed artwork greets you at the entrance to Wakehurst Place. Kew's Millennium Seed Bank is a world leader in plant conservation. It aims to bank 25% of the world's seeds by 2020. 

Displays inside the Millennium Seed Bank

I discovered some interesting videos, displays and figures about this important conservation work inside the building. As of 1st February 2017, the seed bank's staff have banked a total of:

• 2,200,964,170 seeds
• From 81,533 seed collections
• Representing 37,614 different species
• From 189 different countries

A Global Undertaking
Contractors were working on an extension to the vault space underneath the Millennium Seed Bank on the day of my visit. This extension will provide sufficient storage space for collections beyond 2020. There were students from Imperial College London and BSix College, as well as colleagues from Denmark, New Zealand, Belgium and Germany.

Staff and volunteers were working on cleaning seed collections from Azerbaijan during my visit. You could see into the labs through the glass viewing panes. The Millennium Seed Bank is truly an international effort.

Seeds come in all shapes, colours and sizes

Storage Process
I read a lot about how staff ensure optimum storage conditions for the seeds. Seeds are dried to reduce their moisture content and slow biological processes. The technique helps to avoid deterioration in storage at very low temperatures. Some seeds can last for hundreds of years if stored in this way. 

Staff have to be very careful when working in the vaults. They have to work quickly and wear protective suits. -20°C with a wind chill of around -27°C may be good for seed storage, but these are not good temperatures for human survival.

Staff wear protective suits inside the freezing seed vaults

Troublesome Seeds
The Seed Bank's research into how to store recalcitrant seeds is particularly interesting. Some species die if their moisture content drops below 40%. Coffee and avocado are two of the troublesome plants.

Recalcitrant Cocoa (left); a range of orthodox seeds (right)

The Great Green Wall
The Millennium Seed Bank is also sharing its expertise in seed collecting and the best propagation techniques with the world. The Great Green Wall initiatives in the Sahel and Sahara are helping to stabilise grass and tree roots to combat desertification. There are also pilot projects in other parts of Africa. The ambitious plan is to create a great green wall of plants and trees spreading across 13 countries.

Pressed Flowers

Pressed poppies on display

Seeing some pressed poppies brought back memories for me. If I had not taken up languages, life as a botanist would probably have been my alternative career choice. I often pressed flowers between the pages of my heaviest books and hid them under my bed as a child. A botanical version of Gerald Durrell perhaps?

My interest probably started with making daisy chains on my grandmother's lawn. My fascination with plants really took off after a cliff-walking holiday in Guernsey. The wild flowers were glorious there. 

My parents bought me a Collins Guide to Wild Flowers. I identified an amazing range of common and rare species in the local woods, hills and fields. I was lucky to live in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Somerset. I never did discover the rare Cheddar Pink (Dianthus gratianopolitanus). It only grows on the limestone rocks in a few places in the Mendip Hills and Cheddar Gorge.

Woodland Walk
After my tour of the Millennium Seed Bank's displays and different plant beds outside, I set off on a walk around Wakehurst Place's grounds. I followed a trail through Bethlehem Wood with some amazing exposed tree roots.

Walk through Bethlehem Wood

I discovered some black sheep in a field by Horsebridge Wood. I continued onward past some huge 'mushrooms' among Californian Redwoods until I was greeted at Westwood Lake by some noisy ducks.

Hillside full of spring crocuses

My favourite section of the walk was near the pond. You see the brightly-coloured winter stems of dogwoods and box leading to a hillside carpet of snowdrops and crocuses. It was a very tranquil spot with the sound of the running stream and occasional bird song.

I discovered a verse of New England poetry at the top of the hill:

Give fools their gold, and knaves their power;
Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall;
Who sows a field, or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree, is more than all.

From A Song of Harvest 

by John Greenleaf Whittier

The perfect verse for a wonderful spring day. A very fitting poem for Wakehurst Place as it takes great pains to ensure that the world's seeds will be passed on to future generations. 

Below you will find a Vimeo video of my walk through Wakehurst Place:


Spring 2017 Visit to Wakehurst Place from Karen Andrews on Vimeo.

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in global marketing.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.