Cyanotypes: The origins of photography | Kew
Sir John Herschel: The inventor of cyanotypes. Sir John Herschel began by experimenting with sun prints (or photograms). These were one of the earliest forms of photography and involved laying an object on chemically-treated paper before exposing it to a light source. Later, in 1842, he used paper coated with a solution of iron salts, sun ...
Ginkgo biloba: The tree that outlived the dinosaurs | Kew
May 5, 2020 · The Ginkgo biloba is one of the oldest living tree species in the world. It's the sole survivor of an ancient group of trees that date back to before dinosaurs roamed the Earth – creatures that lived between 245 and 66 million years ago. It’s so ancient, the species is known as a ' living fossil '. Fossils of Ginkgo leaves have been ...
7 interesting things about moss - Kew
May 23, 2020 · Moss growing on rocks in the Rock Walk, Wakehurst. 1. They're ancient plants. Mosses are non-flowering plants which produce spores and have stems and leaves, but don't have true roots. Mosses, and their cousins liverworts and hornworts, are classified as Bryophyta (bryophytes) in the plant kingdom. They date back 450 million years, and have ...
What in earth? Understanding what fungi really are | Kew
Oct 7, 2022 · More than just mushrooms. For a lot of us, fungi are synonymous with mushrooms. But mushrooms are only one part of the lifecycle of some fungi. A fungus will begin its life as a spore, which can be carried away by the wind or an unwitting animal courier, like an insect. When the spore finds a suitable environment, it will germinate (sprout) and ...
10 golden rules for restoring forests - Kew
Jan 26, 2021 · A recent review led by Kew scientists and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) proposes ‘ten golden rules for reforestation’ to boost benefits for people and the planet. 1. Protect existing forest first. Millions of hectares of forests are destroyed every year, leading to huge carbon dioxide emissions that are not easily offset ...
Biomimicry: Inspiration from nature - Kew
Nov 24, 2021 · Probably the best-known example of biomimicry, Velcro was created in the 1940s by George de Mestral, a Swiss electrical engineer. He was inspired after a hunting trip in 1941 when burrs (hooked seed pods) from burdock plants (Arctium) repeatedly became stuck to his clothes, as well as the fur of his dog. Examining them under a microscope, he ...
Cacao tree - Theobroma cacao | Plants - Kew
One of the world’s most popular products, chocolate, comes from the cacao, or cocoa tree. It is made from cocoa beans: The seeds stored in the yellow fruit of the cacao tree. Cacao beans have been eaten by humans for thousands of years. The Mayans and Aztecs mixed ground cacao beans with chilli to make a bitter and spicy drink.
Ginkgo tree - Ginkgo biloba | Plants - Kew
The ginkgo tree is a large, deciduous tree with an irregular, spreading crown and deeply cracked, brown bark. It has fan-shaped, greenish-yellow leaves that have two or more distinct lobes. In autumn, the leaves of the ginkgo tree turn golden and fall to the ground. Whilst male trees have pollen-producing floral spikes, fertilised female trees ...
From bean to bar: How to make chocolate | Kew
Apr 9, 2020 · Natural yeasts, added by insects and the workers’ hands, speed the fermentation process and develop the all-important rich chocolate flavours. Turn up the heat. Once the beans have fermented, they need to be dried. The aim of drying is to reduce the water content of the cacao beans from 37% to around 7%.
Rafflesia arnoldi - Kew
Plant description. Rafflesia arnoldi lives inside Tetrastigma vines as a mass of fleshy strands which absorb water and nutrients from the host. It grows out of the host plant's bark as brown, cabbage-like buds called knops which bloom over several days. The flowers have five lobes, are reddish-brown with white spots, and grow up to 1m across.