Kew Gardens - Palm House 2021 08 25 #3
Sony DSC-HX90V
Built in the 1840's, the Palm House at Kew is considered the world's most important surviving Victorian iron and glass structure. It was designed to accommodate the exotic palms being collected and introduced to Europe in early Victorian times and now represents one of the most threatened habitats on earth. It is considered "the world's most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure". The structure's panes of glass are all hand-blown. There are 16,000 panes of toughened glass, some of which are curved and very expensive. The palm house has the oldest potted plant in the world here, the Encephalartos altensteinii, since 1775. We also have two very old Dioon spinulosum, one male and one female, and a Brownea X crawfordii, all since 1889.
13. Many rare and threatened species grow in the Palm House including several palms endemic to tropical islands, such as Ravenea moorei, from Comoros, of which there are very few left in their natural habitat. Another critically endangered, very beautiful palm here is the Pelagadoxa henryana.
14. Currently our tallest Palm House plant is the Cuban royal palm (Roystonea regia) but some of the giant bamboo shoots often grow taller than this before being cut back.
Kew Gardens - Palm House 2021 08 25 #3
Sony DSC-HX90V
Built in the 1840's, the Palm House at Kew is considered the world's most important surviving Victorian iron and glass structure. It was designed to accommodate the exotic palms being collected and introduced to Europe in early Victorian times and now represents one of the most threatened habitats on earth. It is considered "the world's most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure". The structure's panes of glass are all hand-blown. There are 16,000 panes of toughened glass, some of which are curved and very expensive. The palm house has the oldest potted plant in the world here, the Encephalartos altensteinii, since 1775. We also have two very old Dioon spinulosum, one male and one female, and a Brownea X crawfordii, all since 1889.
13. Many rare and threatened species grow in the Palm House including several palms endemic to tropical islands, such as Ravenea moorei, from Comoros, of which there are very few left in their natural habitat. Another critically endangered, very beautiful palm here is the Pelagadoxa henryana.
14. Currently our tallest Palm House plant is the Cuban royal palm (Roystonea regia) but some of the giant bamboo shoots often grow taller than this before being cut back.