Category: Temperate Palm House
The temperate palm house was built in 1858 by Robert Matheson with a grant of £6,000 from Parliament. At 21.95m (72ft) tall this is the tallest glasshouse in the UK, and is one of the tallest classic palm houses in the world.
It all started with one houseplant. That one plant, a Crassula ovata (money plant), led me to having one of the healthiest obsessions human beings can possibly have;…
A lot can happen in a year, especially where the Biomes Project is concerned. Looking back at 2022, it is impossible to include everything that has been achieved, but here is a selection of highlights of the work undertaken by the Horticulture team and colleagues.
Every day for the last thirty years, rain or shine, Senior Horticulturist Bruce Robertson has climbed up on to the roof of the Temperate Palm House to change the Campbell-Stokes recorder’s sunshine card. As the restoration on the Victorian Palm Houses begins, the recorder’s solid crystal ball is stored away for safe keeping.
During summer 2021 the first phase of the Biomes Project began and the Glasshouse staff were tasked with the mammoth undertaking of removing all plants from the Palm…
As many will have observed, there have been some major refurbishment works ongoing at the RBGE’s iconic Temperate Palmhouse over the past few months. These works are to…
The eye exists in a primitive state. The marvels of the earth a hundred feet high, the marvels of the sea a hundred feet deep, have for their…
Threatened plants of the world Red List status: VULNERABLE You may have already encountered this rare palm on your last holiday to a warm and sunny destination. You…
30. Reinwardtia indica Dumortier LINACEAE Hindi: basanti, बसंती A member of the flax family which is unusual in having individuals with three different flower forms (a condition known as…
31. Duchesnea indica (Andrews) Focke ROSACEAE In its creeping habit and red fruit, this plant resembles a small strawberry, but its flowers are bright yellow and the fruits are…
32. Polygonatum oppositifolium (Wallich) Royle CONVALLARIACEAE This subtropical relative of the native European Solomon’s seal was discovered by Nathaniel Wallich on his expedition to Nepal in 1820 to 1821….
33. Rhododendron dalhousiae J.D. Hooker ERICACEAE Lady Dalhousie’s rhododendron Native of the Eastern Himalaya, this species, which has fragrant flowers, often grows as an epiphyte on mossy tree trunks….
34. Codariocalyx motorius (Houttyn) Ohahsi LEGUMINOSAE John Hope’s ‘moving plant of Bengal’ Around 1775 the Scottish surgeon James Kerr sent a drawing of this plant by a Bengali artist…
35. Hedychium gardnerianum Ker Gawler ZINGIBERACEAE Mr Gardner’s garland flower According to Nathaniel Wallich this plant was ‘the queen of the genus if not of the whole [ginger] order’….
36. Wallichia disticha T. Anderson PALMAE This is a very unusual palm in its leaf arrangement. The leaves are borne ‘distichously’, that is, in a single plane on opposite…
37. Himalayacalamus falconeri (Munro) P.C. Keng GRAMINEAE A clump-forming bamboo that occurs in cool, broad-leaved forests at altitudes of between 2000 and 2550 metres, from Uttarakhand (Kumaon) eastwards through…
