Kew Gardens
LightNews LightNews
banner
rbgkew.bsky.social
Kew Gardens
@rbgkew.bsky.social
5K followers 370 following 500 posts
The home of Kew Science 👩‍🔬

🌱Collections
📚Archives
🍄Applied research
🤝Partnerships
🥼Training
👉More: linktr.ee/kewscience
Posts Replies Media Videos
rbgkew.bsky.social
🎉 Today is Darwin’s birthday! This is an actual wild tomato plant that he collected, over 180 years ago! 🍅

We have millions of specimens like these in our collection, but did you know you can now see them on our new Data Portal, for free!? 👇
👉 https://ow.ly/2ZuW50YcG4Z

#DarwinDay
February 12, 2026 at 10:01 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
This 19th Century watercolour of the Chinese orchid Vanda concolor from Kew's Library is thought to have been illustrated by an unrecorded Chinese artist.

See spectacular examples of live orchids on show as part of our Orchid Festival at Kew: 7 February - 8 March 2026 👉 www.kew.org/kew-gardens/...
Image showing a watercolour of the orchid Vanda concolor depicting the roots, leaves and purple brown flowers of the plant. A flower dissection is shown in the lower right hand corner of the image with its five petals spread out like an exploding star. Text along the upper left of the image reads 'Chinese Plants from the Collection of Sir W.J. Hooker' with text in Chinese characters to the lower right of the image.
February 12, 2026 at 9:50 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
We’re celebrating our Science Collections Digitisation Project volunteers – an incredible team whose work has powered this project forward over the last four years 🌿
February 10, 2026 at 10:24 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
🌎 Applications are now open for the Emily Holmes Memorial Scholarships! 🎓
These scholarships provide funding towards plant and fungal postgraduate research projects 🧪
Apply now 👇
https://ow.ly/Xir050Y9r2A
Four scientists in white lab coats conducting experiments with petri dishes and beakers in a laboratory.
February 9, 2026 at 4:01 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
Join governments and businesses at Chatham House Events' Climate and Energy Summit to explore strategies for a resilient future.

🗓️ 10-11 March 2026
📍Chatham House & online

Book here 👉 https://ow.ly/yFk350Y0NSV
Wind turbines and solar panels at sunset illustrating renewable energy for the Climate and Energy Summit 2026.
February 9, 2026 at 10:40 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
Here are some books we came across during a project in the mycology library last week. Our Library and Archives collections do not only cover plants, but also fungi and lichens. Some have very beautiful illustrations. Others (like the cordyceps) are rather gruesome... 🍄🍄‍🟫🍄‍🟫 #KewLA
Open book with a colour illustration of a bolete on the right-hand page. The description is in Polish. Black and white illustration of various fungi Detail of a colour illustration of various insects and cordyceps fungi growing out of them.
February 5, 2026 at 1:25 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
Amongst the notes of 19th century horticulturalist & botanist John Fraser, we spotted this list of unwelcome visitors to a property in Kew! John's ‘uninvited guests’ were botanical rather than human, including species such as thornapple and gallant soldier. How many can you recognise? #KewLA
A section of a notebook, rest on foam supports. The page is titled ‘7. Uninvited guests at 4 Willow Cottages, Kew, 1892-1915’. Beneath this are two columns, listing the names of plants found at the property: datura stramonium; Amaranthus retroflexus; Oxalis corniculata rubia; Oenothera lamarckiana; [?] roseum; Lychnis alba; Silene latifolia; Chenopodium rubrum; Senebiera didyma; Senebiera coronopus; Melilotus indicus (1917); Euphorbia virgata; Sisyrinchium angustifolium; Papaver somniferum; Galinsoga parviflora; Epilobium hirsutum; Ornithopus perpusillus; S.noctiflora; Althaca rosea
January 29, 2026 at 11:45 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
MPNS v15 is now live! 🌿

A free, authoritative reference for 41,878 medicinal plants - now with images added for the first time, more global sources, stronger data links and updated taxonomy.

Plant names are messy. Clear data matters for global health.
Explore 👉 https://ow.ly/Ktzt50Y0wv1
Close-up images of vibrant purple saffron crocus flowers and harvested red saffron threads in jars and bowls on Kew's MPNS database
January 28, 2026 at 1:45 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
A ‘zombie’ fungus. A ‘bloodstained’ orchid. A plant name straight out of Studio Ghibli 🧪
They’re all in the next issue of Kew Science - plus a few sharp takes on what’s changing in plant science right now 🌍

Want the full story? Get it in your inbox: https://ow.ly/vGPT50Y1Iz2
January 25, 2026 at 10:00 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
Traditional medicine is moving centre stage at WHO 🌍🌿 But safe, effective use depends on knowing which plants are being used.

MPNS v15 helps cut through confusing names - now covering ~42,000 medicinal plants, with images added for the first time.

Explore 👉 https://ow.ly/ui9N50Y0wNq
Person wearing a straw hat and gray shirt crouches while spreading goji berries on a large drying surface outdoors.
January 24, 2026 at 11:00 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
This year, the taxonomists on the Fungarium Sequencing Project had a goal to review 10,000 specimens. They hit their target an impressive three months ahead of schedule, so to celebrate their hard work, here are some of the stories they’ve uncovered!
January 23, 2026 at 11:59 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
🗺️What a multi-lingual collection: Jacques Gay was a botanist and collector from Switzerland and our Archives hold over 35 volumes of his manuscripts. He wrote mainly in French, although Latin and even Greek found its way into his writing as well. Any polyglots able to translate? #KewLA
Four sheets of paper, roughly A6-sized, pasted onto a larger page. The individual smaller pages are handwritten and contain notes in French, Greek, and Latin. They are presumably notes or correspondence on specific specimens and plants collected by or for Gay.
January 22, 2026 at 10:30 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
Millions of records, centuries of discovery, all in one place 🌿

From specimens gathered on 18th-century voyages to Kew’s living collections of today, our data reveals the diversity of plant & fungal life — now accessible wherever you are 👇

https://ow.ly/OJLY50XZzOX
January 19, 2026 at 12:01 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
We're joining the Heritage Fund UK in celebrating #HeritageTreasures!

Kew's Marianne North Gallery was completed in 1882, with much needed restoration work done on the Gallery and its paintings in 2008. The restoration was made possible in part with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund 🎨🖌️
A colour photograph showing the restored interior of the Marianne North Gallery at Kew. The photograph shows the view from inside the rear gallery looking ahead towards the entrance doors through which streams light which reflects on the brown, black and orange tiles of the Gallery floor. Different woods can be seen set running around the lower panels of the Gallery walls above which runs a wooden rail set with intermittent labels describing the woods and paintings which are set in a colourful jigsaw fashion from mid height to high up on the wall.
January 15, 2026 at 11:48 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
It’s official, 125 plants and 65 fungi were named NEW to science in 2025!

Every year, our botanists & mycologists work with partners across the world to officially name & describe new species to science 🧪

See our list of the top ten! 👉 https://ow.ly/J7LY50XT51M
January 8, 2026 at 10:30 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
We've all mislaid our keys, but this one made it to the other side of the world! The Library and Archives were delighted when Adelaide Botanic Garden recently arranged for donation of a key that was previously owned by Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck - granddaughter of King George III #KewLA
January 7, 2026 at 5:45 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our research & collections teams here at Kew! We're looking forward to sharing more stories and highlights with you in 2026 🎄

Beautiful illustration below from our LAA team #KewLA 👇
Coloured illustration of Ilex aquifolium (Holly). Small red berries are at the bottom of a stem with long green leaves with ragged and sharp edges pointing outwards from the stem. A smaller illustration in the bottom right corner shows the plant in pink, in its flowering stage.
December 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
🌺If you're free on 15th January and would like to find out more about our Persian collections, why not sign up for one of our art workshops? More info in the booking links below 👇#KewLA

Morning slot: https://ow.ly/x0cl50XMcGy
Afternoon slot: https://ow.ly/IvwE50XMcGz
Coloured illustration of a Rosa persica (Persian rose). The slightly yellowed page shows stem, leaves, two yellow flowers and one in the process of flowering. Two yellow petals are shown dropping at the bottom.
December 20, 2025 at 2:30 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
This #FungiFriday we are looking at the work of PhD Student Rose Gooda! Rose is studying the role of mycorrhizal fungi in the natural colonisation of forest in the UK, & recently conducted fieldwork in a temperate oak rainforest in Dartmoor where regeneration efforts are underway 👇

📸 © David Satori
Mycorrhizal fungi pulled from the ground Macro close up of Mycorrhizal fungi
December 19, 2025 at 1:01 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
Did you know that dried plant specimens, some collected hundreds of years ago, are helping us understand climate change today? 🌎
December 17, 2025 at 3:32 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
How do wild plants shape daily life in Guinea - & what’s at risk if they disappear? 🌿

A new open-access study has created the first nationwide checklist of wild useful plant species in Guinea - identifying 399 species used for medicine, materials, and food, & mapping the threats to their survival🧵👇
Three people examining plants closely near a riverbank surrounded by dense greenery and tall grasses.
December 15, 2025 at 5:39 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
POV: You're scrolling through the Mycology team's camera roll after a field trip 🍄

Several members of the team recently spent time in Dumfries & Galloway, on the border of Scotland, as part of a field trip - one of which alongside the British Mycological Society @britmycolsoc.org.uk 👇 [1/2]
December 12, 2025 at 12:12 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
🎶A botanical musical? We recently stumbled across these in the 'Flora Cibaria' manuscript of botanist Lilly Wigg (1749-1828). The volumes consist of other people's writings and are full of surprises, with psalms and melodies strewn throughout, and little direct link to the botany on the page. #KewLA
Two lines of musical notation written vertically down a page in a bound manuscript volume. On either side of the notation are handwritten notes referencing plants, their uses and publications relating to them. As the photo is taken at an angle, some of the writing is cropped. Trippasia R 15. Citrus parva Guin I 63 Balsamita vulgar... Willd Tom III Pars III ... Tanacetum Balsamita ... Lin Ulva diaphana makes an excellent pickle. Mr J D Downes.
December 11, 2025 at 11:30 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
Registration is NOW OPEN for our State of the World's Plants and Fungi Symposium, 29 June - 1 July 2026! 🌍 The theme will be 'Harnessing the benefits of specimen digitisation' & will follow the release of the next State of the World's Report 🌱🍄
Learn more & register here 👉 https://ow.ly/CuNg50XFOH1
December 9, 2025 at 3:01 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
Interested in Persian collections? This Wednesday, we will be hosting a talk about the Persian materials within our archive, focusing on the unexpected cultural & social histories:
Learn more 👉 ow.ly/ENHb50XCLJ2
#KewLA
Photo of a woman in a yellow top, with dark hair, drawing sitting at a desk, with other opposite. Colouring pencils and textile are visible on the table. 2) Sketch of a maintain range, mostly in pencil, but with some colour (green) indicating the plants and trees on the mountain range. Some place names are indicated with arrows in manuscript.
December 8, 2025 at 11:53 AM