142 WWW.THEFIELD.CO.UK
istypicallygearedtowardsmedicine.Heis
proudofhisdepartment’sseniorschoolpro-
vision.“We’relookingtoinfluencecurricula
by campaigning toget plant scienceback
intoit,”hesays.Theyrunaninitiativecalled
ScienceandPlantsforSchools(SAPS),which
seekstodojustthis from its40-acresite,
where 8,000plantsare cultivated.“That’s
about the number you’d typically find in
a small African country, squeezed into a
smallerspace,”heobserves.
Thestudyofplantsmayseemsomewhat
antiquatedintheageofroboticsurgeryand
consumerspacetravel,butbotanistsargue
thatit’smorerelevantthaneverasdisputes
overclimatechangeandconservationrage.
AliceMaltby,spokespersonfortheUniver-
sityofBristolBotanicGarden,pointstothe
research that’s being conducted on pol-
linators. As bees and other pollinators in
ecosystems worldwide are declining, the
effect on food production could be cata-
strophic.Bristol isholding its 10th annual
Bee and Honey Festival in September to
raiseawarenessoftheissue.
At Kew, Barley insists botany is more
relevantthaneverinthebattletobecome
greener.“It’scurioustomethatthestudyof,
forexample,botanyhasfallenoutoffavour,
becauseunderstandingplantsandwhatsort
ofbenefitstheyhold,andhowwecancon-
servethemandutilisethem,hasneverbeen
morepressingorimportant,”hesays.
“The more we know the greater the
potential benefit, and if plants become
extinctwe losetheir potential benefits as
wellasdestroyingtheirecosystem.There’s
a realsenseofendeavourandaspirationto
learnasmuch aspossibleabout plantsto
helphumankindwhen there’s such a need
forthatknowledge.”
Research currently underway at Kew
includesa projectinEthiopiaonthesustain-
abilityof coffee production in a changing
climate. “Coffee is a vitally important part
ofthelocaleconomy,soit’sfundamentally
important,” he adds. In particular, Kew is
conductingresearch intoplant DNA, “try-
ingtomapoutwhichplantsaremostclosely
relatedtoothers,whichgivesusaninsight
intowherewemightfindusefulcompounds
wherewemightnothavethoughttolook”.
Therelationshipbetweenplantsandthe
pharmaceuticalindustryisalsoclosetothe
heartofbotanicgardens.ColinChisholm,a
trusteeofthe ChelseaPhysicGarden,says
they’rerecruitinga researchertoconducta
projectonthelinkbetweenmoderndrugs
and their origins from plants that arrived
inEnglandviathegarden,whichwouldbe
both interesting to the mainstream pub-
licbut alsoto pharmaceuticalcompanies.
At Cambridge, Brockington explains they
havea particularinterestinthis,asroughly
30,000 species of plants worldwidehave
some sort of medicinal value. “The vast
majorityof ourmainstream pharmaceuti-
cals were originally plant-derived, though
maybesynthesisednow.”
AtOxford,Hiscockis supervisingresearch
into carnivorous plants, while at the same
time working closely with colleagues in
Japan,whichis“abiodiversityhotspot”on
projectstopreservesomeofitsmostendan-
geredspecies.Atthesametime,andharking
backtoits physicgardenroots, theyhave
launcheda physicginwiththeOxfordArti-
sanDistillery,comprisedof 25 botanicals, 24
ofwhicharefromthelistof plants cultivated
inthegardenin1648.
Theupkeepoftheseestablishmentsis not
cheap.The Chelsea Physic Garden,which
largelycollaborates with otherinstitutions
ratherthanconductingitsownresearch,will
be 350 yearsoldin 2023 andthere’sa pro-
jectunderwaytorestorethegreenhouses,
whichwillcostjustshyof£3million.Fund-
raisingissurprisinglyhard foranaffluent
area.Ina similarvein,Oxfordwillcelebrate
its400thanniversaryintwoyears’time.It,
too,is tryingtoreplaceglasshousesthatare
nolongerfitforpurposetosecurethefuture
ofitstendertropicalplantcollection.“Our
ambitionis tohavea tropicalrainforesthere
inthecentreofOxford,”explainsHiscock.
When they offer us so much, surely it
shouldn’tbehardforbotanic gardens to find
the necessary funding?
PHYSIC/BOTANICGARDENS
Botanicorbotanicalgardens(there’sno
differenceinmeaning,buttheformer
is theoriginalterm)developedfrom
physicgardens.Theseweregardens
wheremedicinalplantswerecultivated.
Outofthesemedicinalherbgardens
grewbotanicgardens,whicharecentres
for scientificstudyandwheretheplants
are on public display.
The vast majority of pharmaceuticals
were originally plant derived
Top:OxfordBotanicGarden,theoldestintheUK
Above:Kewholdstheworld’slargestcollectionof
living plants, with more than 30,000 species
