Our obsession with gardens goes back a long way. Plants: From Roots to Riches takes us to where it all began. Based on BBC Radio 4's landmark series, Kathy Willis, Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, and acclaimed science writer Carolyn Fry guide us through the evolution of botany as seen through the unique institution that has transformed our relationship with the natural world.
After Carl Linnaeus invented a universal language to classify plants in 1735 and Kew was set up in 1759, British explorers, adventurers and scientists risked their lives to bring the most interesting specimens and information back to London to be catalogued and understood. From the races to control supplies of rubber and quinine to understanding the causes of the potato famine, from Darwin to genetics, from orchidmania to the creation of Floras, the science of plants has taught and continues to teach us fascinating and valuable lessons.
Full of extraordinary images from Kew's archives and its Herbarium of 7.5 million specimens -- many previously unpublished -- and packed with adventure, history and science, Plants tells the unforgettable story of the power of plants and of our dependence on them.