General
See also this reading list on Kew, economic botany and empire (PDF)
Brockway, L.H. 1979. Science and colonial expansion: the role of the British Royal Botanic Gardens. New York: Academic Press. 215 pp.
Brockway, L.H. 1979. Science and colonial expansion: the role of the British Royal Botanic Gardens. American Ethnologist 6(3): 449-465.
Dean, W. 1987. Brazil and the struggle for rubber - a study in environmental history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 234 pp.
Desmond, R. 2007. The history of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Second Edition. London: Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew. 480 pp. Details
Drayton, R.H. 1993. Imperial science and a scientific empire: Kew Gardens and the uses of nature, 1772-1903. PhD Dissertation, Yale University.
Drayton, R.H. 2000. Nature's government: science, imperial Britain and the 'improvement' of the world. New Haven; London: Yale University Press. 345 pp.
Field, D.V. 1993. In the wake of the Endeavour: Banks's botanical legacy. Endeavour NS 17(3): 141-146. Download PDF
Hepper, F.N. (ed.) 1982. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: gardens for science and pleasure. London: HMSO.
Kumar, D. 1991. Science and empire: essays in Indian context (1700-1947). Delhi: Anamika Prakashan. 205 pp.
Kumar, D. 1995. Science and the Raj: 1857-1905. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 273 pp.
McCracken, D.P. 1997. Gardens of Empire: botanical institutions of the Victorian British Empire. Leicester: Leicester University Press. 242 pp.
Milne, R. and L. Hastings. 1998. Home-spun solutions. Correspondence in Kew's archives reveals how, during World war II, botanists experimented with using nettles... Kew (Spring) 10-11. Download PDF
Moore, J. 1997. Green gold: the riches of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. Historical Records of Australian Science 11(3): 371-388.
Musgrave, T. and Musgrave, W. 2000. An empire of plants: people and plants that changed the world. London: Cassell. 191 pp.
Sampson, H.C. 1935. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Empire Agriculture. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts: 404-419. Download PDF
Simmonds, N.W. 1991. The earlier British contribution to tropical agriculture research. Tropical Agricultural Association Newsletter, 11/2 2-7.
Walvin, J. 1997. Fruits of Empire: exotic produce and British taste 1660-1800. Basingstoke: Macmillan. 219 pp.
The Economic Botany Collections (general)
Alexander, E.P. 1983. Museum masters: their museums and their influence. Nashville, Tennesee, American Association for State and Local History. 428 pp.
Alexander, E.P. 1983. William Jackson Hooker and the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew. Chapter 5 in Museum masters: their museums and their influence. Nashville, Tennesee, American Association for State and Local History. 428 pp.
Anon. 1982. Kew winners. (The 3 prize winning and 4 commended designs for the new museum). Architects' Journal 26(175): 12-17.
Field, D. 1998. Field's finds [General overview of choice pieces]. Kew (Summer): 20-23. Download PDF Large file (17 MB)
Griggs, P., Prendergast, H.D.V. and Rumball, N. 2000. Plants+People. An exhibition of items from the Economic Botany Collections. London: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 64 pp. Details
Hastings, R.B. 1989. The Sir Joseph Banks Centre and the economic botany collections at Kew. Endeavour NS 13(4): 174-178.
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Hooker, W.J. 1858. Museum of Economic Botany. A popular guide to the useful and remarkable vegetable products in the two museum buildings of the Royal Gardens of Kew. London : Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, & Roberts. 88 pp.
Pain, S. 1990. Sir Joseph's buried treasure. New Scientist 1708: 57-61.
Ponsonby, L. 1998. Sir William's legacy: Kew's newly restored Museum of Economic Botany... Kew (Spring) 16-19. Download PDF Large file (16 MB)
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . 1930. Official Guide to the Museums of Economic Botany. 1. Dicotyledons. H.M.S.O., London. 249 pp.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1928. Official Guide to the Museums of Economic Botany. 2. Monocotyledons and Cryptogams. H.M.S.O., London. 118 pp.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1927. Official Guide to the Museums of Economic Botany. 3. Timbers and Gymnosperms. H.M.S.O., London. 149 pp.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1919. Official Guide to the Museums of Economic Botany. 4. British Forestry. H.M.S.O., London. 143 pp.
Taylor, P. and J. Steele. 2003. Collections and research at Kew on UKOT species. UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum 23: 10-11. Download PDF
Wickens, G.E. 1984. Plants for man - the Kew data bank of economic plants. Internal Relations 8: 73-80.
Wickens, G.E. 1989. Economic Botany and Kew in search for new plants. In Wickens, Haq and Day (eds), New crops for food and industry: 411-419. London: Chapman and Hall Ltd. 444 pp.
Wickens, G.E. 1990. What is economic botany? Economic Botany 44(1): 12-28.
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Wickens, G.E. 1993. Two centuries of economic botanists at Kew. Kew Magazine 10: 84-94, 132-137.
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The Economic Botany Collections (specific)
ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS
Boodle, L.A. 1932. Report on the plant material found in Tutankhamun's tomb. Manuscript in Griffith Institute, Oxford.
De Vartavan, C. 1990. Contaminated plant-foods from the yomb of Tutankhamun: a new interperative system. Journal of Archaeological Science 17: 473-494.
De Vartavan, C. 1999. Hidden fields of Tutankhamun: from identification to interpretation of newly discovered plant material from the Pharaoh's grave. London: Triade Exploration. 220 pp.
Gale, R. and Cutler, D. 2000. Plants in archaeology: identification manual of vegetative plant materials used in Europe and the Southern Mediterranean to c.1500. Otley: Westbury Publishing and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 512 pp.
Hepper, F.N. 1990. Pharaoh's flowers. London: HMSO. 80 pp.
McAleely, S. 2001. Flower arranging and archaeology. BSc Thesis, Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
McAleely, S. 2005. Flower arranging in Ancient Egypt. Pp. 105-120 in Current Research in Egyptology IV. Kathryn Piquette & Serena Love (eds.). Oxford: Oxbow Books.
MEDICINE
Anon. 1848. Kew Gardens and Museum of Vegetable Products. Pharmaceutical Journal 7(4): 150-152.
Anon. 1989. The Society's drug collection "back to life" at Kew. Pharmaceutical Journal 243(6557): 544-545.
Morris, K. 1998. Celebrating the vegetable kingdom. The Lancet 9128: 660.
Shellard, E.J. 1981. The materia medica museum and herbaria of the Pharmaceutical Society. Pharmaceutical Journal (Aug 22): 201-209.
Stockwell, C. 1989. Nature's pharmacy: a history of plants and healing. London, Arrow Books in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 160 pp.
MISCELLANEOUS
Anon. 1992. Shake, rattle and blow. Plants and music... Kew (Summer) 31-32. Download PDF Large file (7 MB)
Rumball, N. 1995. Textile restoration by the Textile Conservation Center. Conservation News 58: 26-29. Warr, G. 1987. The Wood Museum at Kew. Practical Wood Working, August: 418-421.
Download PDF REGIONS AFRICA Anon. 1995. Putting plants to work: Kew's collections show how stems, leaves and seeds have been put to daily use in Africa. Kew (Summer) 24-25. Download PDF Large file (8 MB)
Bidgood, S. (2001). Ethiopian artefacts made with plant materials: vanishing wonders. Biologiske Skrifter
54: 311-318. Download PDF Dritsas, Lawrence. 2005. The Zambesi Expedition, 1858-64: African nature in the British scientific metropolis. (PhD thesis, November 2005, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh). Covers Kew specimens from John Kirk and David Livingstone.
Dritsas, Lawrence. 2005. From Lake Nyassa to Philadelphia: a geography of the Zambesi Expedition, 1858-64. British Journal for the
History of Science 38(1): 35-52. Download PDF from Edinburgh Research Archive
ASIA Armitage, G. 1989. The Schlagintweit collections. Indian Journal of History of Science 24(1): 67-83. Hastings, R.B. 1986. The relationships between the Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah and the Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew in economic botany. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 28(1-4): 1-12.
Download PDF EUROPE Austen, B. 1989. Tunbridge Ware and related European decorative woodwares. Kilarney. Dunlevy, M. and Nelson, E.C. 1995. Sir William's Irish lace gifts from an Irish Viscountess. Curtis's Botanical Magazine 12: 220-236. Hastings, L.H. 1996. The Botanic Gardens at Kew and the wartime need for medicines.
Pharmaceutical Journal 257(6923): 923-927.Download PDF Large file (16 MB) Lawson, P. & Son. 1852. Synopsis of the vegetable products of Scotland in the Museum of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew. Edinburgh, Private Press of P. Lawson and Son. 83 pp. NORTH AMERICA Mitchinson, P. 2001. 'Economic botany' outlives the Empire. A forgotten collection reveals the everyday loves of West Coast Indians in the 19th century -- a far cry from masks and totem poles. National Post January 4, 2001. Ozimec, B., R.Y. Smith and H.D.V. Prendergast. (2004) The Canadian ethnographic collections of the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew. American Indian Art Magazine 29(2): 50-59. Download PDF SOUTH AMERICA Field, D.V. 1996. Richard Spruce's economic botany collection at Kew. In M. R. D. Seaward and S. M. D. FitzGerald
(eds), Richard Spruce (1817-1893): botanist and explorer: 245-264. London: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
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Hooker, W.J. 1851-1855. Botanical objects communicated to the Kew Museum from the Amazon by Richard Spruce Esq. Hooker's Journal of Botany & Kew Gardens Miscellany 2: 70-76; 5: 169-177, 238-247; 7: 209-210, 245-252. ARALIACEAE Williams, I. 2001. Views from the West. Chinese pith paper paintings. Arts of Asia 31(5): 140-149. ANACARDIACEAE Hairfield, H.H Jr. and Hairfield, E.M. 1990. Identification of a Late Bronze Age Resin. Analytical Chemistry 62, 41A.[Pistacia lentiscus] Jaeschke, H. 1991. Reflections on lacquer. Kew Spring 1991: 22-25. Download PDF Large file (14 MB) Prendergast, H.D.V., Jaeschke, H. and Rumball, N. 2001. A lacquer legacy at Kew. The Japanese collection of John J. Quin. London: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 100 pp. Details
BURSERACEAE
Hairfield, E.M., Hairfield, H.H. Jr. and Pentz, L.H. 1984. A rapid test for the
identification of incense resins. Perfumer & Flavorist 9 (August/September): 33-36. Hairfield, E.M., Hairfield, H.H. Jr. and McNair, H.M. 1989. GC, GC/MS, and TLC of B-Boswellic Acid and O-Acetyl-B-Boswellic Acid from B. serrata, B. carteii, and B. papyrifera. Journal of Chromatographic Science, 27(3): 127-133. CRUCIFERAE Prendergast, H.D.V. and Rumball, N. 2000. Walking sticks as seed savers - the case of the
Jersey Kale [Brassica oleracea L. convar. acephala (DC.) Alef. var. viridis L.].
Economic Botany 54(2): 101-103. Download PDF
CUCURBITACEAE Prendergast, H.D.V. and Decker-Walters, D.S. 2000. Preserving the gourd perspective
(Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl. (Cucurbitaceae)). Economic Botany 54(4): 424-426. Download PDF
CYPERACEAE Simpson, D.A. and Inglis, C.A. 2001. Cyperaceae of economic, ethnobotanical and horticultural
importance: a checklist. Kew Bulletin 56(2): 257-360. Book details
DRACAENACEAE Pearson, J. 2002. Dragons blood. The Horticulturalist 2002(spring): 10-12. Download PDF
Pearson, J. and Prendergast, H.D.V. 2001. Daemonorops , Dracaena and other dragon's blood. Economic Botany 55(4). Download PDF
GRAMINEAE
Holme, Charles. 1893. The uses of bamboo in Japan. Transactions and Proceedings of The Japan Society, London
I: 23-48. Catalogue of collection of bamboo artefacts given to Kew in 1893; no longer held here. Download PDF
MORACEAE Anon. 1994. Japanese paper gone abroad. From the exhibition of (Parkes) collections. Museum of Tobacco and Salt; Gifu Museum of History, Museum of Paper, Tokyo. [In Japanese.] Parkes, H. 1871. Reports on the manufacture of paper in Japan. London. Includes list of materials now held at
Kew and at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Download PDF
Schmoller, Hans. Mr. Gladstone's Washi: A survey of reports on the manufacture of paper in Japan. The Parkes Report of 1871. Newtown, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1984.
Watt, S.A. 1988. The Parkes Collection housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.. Sally Ann Watt. Dissertation.
Webber, P. 1995. The Parkes Collection of Japanese paper. Conservation Journal April: 5-9.
Download PDF Webber, P. and Thompson, A. 1991. An introduction to the Parkes Collection of Japanese papers. The Paper Conservator 15: 15-16.
ORCHIDACEAE License, O. 2003. Présentation de la collection du genre Vanilla du Centre for Economic Botany, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (G. B.). L’Orchidophile 156: 61-68.
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PALMAE Barrow, S.C. 1998. Palm resources at the Centre for Economic Botany at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Principes 42(3): 140-144.
Download PDF Rostant, L. and Prendergast, H.D.V. 2001. Conservation of a Phoenix Raincape from the Philippines. Economic Botany 55(3): 341-343. Download PDF
PHORMIACEAE
Daniels, V. 1999. Factors affecting the deterioration of the cellulosic fibers
in black-dyed New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax). Studies in Conservation 44: 73-85.
RUBIACEAE Prendergast, H.D.V. and Dolley, D. 2001. Jesuits' bark (Cinchona [Rubiaceae]) and other medicines. Economic Botany 55(1): 3-6. Download PDF
SAPINIDACEAE Prendergast, H.D.V. and G. Pearman. 2001. Comparing uses and collections - the example of
Dodonaea viscosa Jacq. (Sapindaceae). Economic Botany 55(2): 184 -186. Download PDF
THYMELAEACEAE Pearman, G. and Prendergast, H.D.V. 2000. Items from the lace-bark tree Lagetta lagetto (W.Wright) Nash (Thymelaeaceae) from the Caribbean. Economic Botany 54(1): 4-6. Download PDF
TYPHACEAE Prendergast, H.D.V., Kennedy, M.J., Webby, R.F., and Markham, K.R. 2000. Pollen cakes of
Typha spp. (Typhaceae) - 'lost' and living food. Economic Botany 54(3): 254-255. Download PDF ZOSTERACEAE
Prendergast, H.D.V. 2002. Useful marine monocots - more collections than data? Economic Botany 56: 110-112. Download PDF
Suggestions for additional literature are welcome, and may be sent to
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