The Chinese fan palm and cobra lily by Vishnuprasad from Henry Noltie’s Flora Indica, a masterpiece of botanical-art-historical detective work.
The book accompanies a stunning exhibition at Kew Gardens.
@rbgkew.bsky.social @willdalrymple.bsky.social
@sathnam.bsky.social
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

‘One of the most superbly beautiful of trees ... worth crossing the globe to see’.
For more on thawka-gyi or 'Pride of Burma', see the latest issue of Plant Perspectives. Open access:
www.whp-journals.co.uk/PP/article/v...

What is the most beautiful flowering tree in the world? Find out in my essay for Plant Perspectives, ed. by the wonderful Caroline Cornish and Christina Hourigan.
Also features a brilliant essay on ackee by Heather Craddock,
@planthums-uk.bsky.social @treeseeker.bsky.social @hcraddock.bsky.social

You're right, Sathnam!
The glass was originally pale green – a shade determined by the chemist Robert Hunt through a bizarre series of experiments involving the extracted juices of palm leaves!

Well, this is interesting.
The UK-Kenya exhibition at the 2025 Venice Biennale reimagines the Palm House at Kew Gardens as a timber structure. The decorative panels are made of sustainable materials.
'Vena Cava' by Mae-ling Lokko and Gustavo Crembil
venicebiennale.britishcouncil.org/geology-brit...

Just writing a paper about this pair, Thomas Dawodu and Ferdinand Leigh, the first Africans to train at Kew Gardens.
Come hear their remarkable story at Gardens & Empires conference, British Library, June 27-8, & online: events.bl.uk/events/garde...
@sathnam.bsky.social @eicathomefinn.bsky.social ‬

Very excited about two Kew Gardens exhibitions on empire & botanical art this October:
– Flora Indica: recovering lost histories of Indian botanical art, curated by Henry Noltie & Sita Reddy.
– New work by The Singh Twins: Botanical Tales & Seeds of Empire.
www.kew.org/about-us/pre...

Following you down the antimacassar rabbit hole: the chair protectors were so called after Rowland's Macassar Oil, a hair oil made of imperial plant products, chiefly coconut and palm oil. Its exotic name evoked the Indonesian port of Makassar, then in the Dutch East Indies. Just look at this ad!

The Mughal Cotswolds!Yesterday at Sezincote House after tremendous walk with @corinnefowler.bsky.social from her great book, Our Island Stories.

Dazzling display of the architectural qualities of palms:
'Singularity' from @_MarcQuinn Light into Life show @kewgardens.
Precisely modelled on a Bismarckia nobilis leaf from Kew's Palm House (and placed just outside).

Kew Gardens this afternoon. The calm before Storm Ciarán.