22 
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
William 
Ker, 1803. 
New 
Plants 
bulbs and succulent plants. Clivia nobilis, one of the most popular 
South African plants at the present time, was introduced by him. 
He also brought home the remarkable cycad, Encephalartos horridus. 
It is, however, anticipating matters somewhat to discuss here 
the work of Cunningham and Bowie. The next collector after Caley 
in point of time was William Ker. South Africa and 
Australia had already been visited by collectors for Kew, 
and China was the next field which the authorities at 
Kew decided to draw upon for the enrichment of their collections. 
Ker, a young Scotch gardener then in their employ, was accordingly 
despatched to that country in 1803. He was successful in introducing 
a number of valuable plants, amongst which the most popular to-day 
is the Tiger lily. The well-known hardy shrub, Kerria japonica 
(double-flowered form), was introduced by Ker and subsequently 
named after him. 
The introduction of new plants from foreign countries is the most 
interesting feature in the history of Kew from the early years of the 
nineteenth century to its transference to public control in 
1840. Always a work of the utmost importance, collecting 
must, in those days of sailing-ships and long, slow journeys, 
have been supremely interesting as well. We who live a century later 
have, perhaps, become somewhat blase in our attitude towards the 
introduction of new plants. For the fact is the world has been pretty 
well ransacked by this time, and although many species of plants 
doubtless have yet to be discovered, they must all — or nearly all — 
belong to types already well known. At the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century the floral treasures of great areas of the globe 
were still not only ungathered but unknown. All Africa, saving 
its northern and southern extremes, almost the whole of Asia, the 
two Americas, with the exception of the eastern seaboard of the 
north — all these remained practically virgin fields, open to the plant 
collector. One hundred years ago every packet of seeds received 
at Kew from its collectors abroad carried within it the possibility 
of some vegetable wonder which untravelled European eyes had 
never seen before. 
The first decade of last century, whilst it saw Kew at the zenith 
of its fame and activity, saw also the commencement of its decline. 
The shadow which fell upon the King’s mind in 1801 deepened 
as the years went on, and in 1810 his reason permanently left 
