Kew Gardens / Royal Botanic Gardens

Kew Gardens, officially the Royal Botanic Gardens, are situated in southwest London on the south bank of the Thames. Here some 30,000 plants are identified every year, more than 50,000 plants are grown and specimens and information are exchanged with botanists and botanical institutions all over the world. Here, too, the Brazilian rubber tree was adapted to the climatic conditions of the Malay peninsula, and here was developed the Marquis strain of wheat which made it possible to bring the prairies of northwest Canada into cultivation. The Herbarium contains a collection of over seven million dried plants and the Library has more than 50,000 volumes of botanical literature.

The gardens were first laid out in 1759 on the