What is Kew Gardens?
Kew Gardens, officially the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a world-famous botanic garden in southwest London. It holds one of the largest collections of living plants in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The gardens began in 1759 as a royal garden for Princess Augusta, the mother of King George III. Sir Joseph Banks later developed Kew into a center for scientific plant collection.
Kew covers about 132 hectares and has more than 50,000 living plants. Its herbarium holds millions of preserved specimens used by scientists worldwide.
Glasshouses and attractions
The Palm House, built in the 1840s, is a magnificent Victorian glasshouse filled with tropical plants. The Temperate House is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the world.
Other attractions include the Treetop Walkway, the Great Pagoda, built in 1762, and Kew Palace, the smallest royal palace.
Kew runs the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst in Sussex, which stores seeds from tens of thousands of plant species to protect them from extinction. The gardens were declared a World Heritage Site in 2003.