Meet the world's oldest pot plant in the Palm House at Kew Gardens

King of the Palm House, the huge Jurassic cycad, Encephalartos altensteinii (i), was collected by Kew's first plant hunter Francis Masson, from the Eastern Cape region of South Africa in the early 1770s. Masson was commissioned by Sir Joseph Banks to step aboard the Resolution and join Captain Cook's second voyage around the globe. This ancient plant, commonly known as the Eastern Cape giant cycad, arrived back at Kew Gardens in 1775 and has thrived in Kew's majestic Palm House since it was built in 1848. This cycad was one of the first living collections to arrive at Kew Gardens, kick-starting a legacy which makes the Gardens what they are today - a living collection of over 30,000 plant species.

Find out more about Francis Masson at http://www.kew.org/heritage/people/masson.html

Category:

Science & Technology

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• cycad
• dinosaur
• palm house
• kew
• gardens
• botanic
• palm
• house
• potplant
• kew gardens
• pot plant
• Eastern Cape giant cycad
• giant cycad
• francis masson
• visitor experience at kew

[kewgardens]

@rockshandify it was collected in the 1770s

[rockshandify]

how old is it????