Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's wreath for Remembrance
05 November 2010
The wreath that will be laid at the Cenotaph on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Remembrance Sunday is provided as usual by The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Ashley Hughes, resident horticulturist at Kew, has designed the wreath that will feature an array of colourful plants, taken from Kew's living collection, and representative of the flora of the British Overseas Territories.
This week, he has finalised the list of plants and will collect the sprigs and flowers from the finest plants around the Gardens - olive will be used to represent Gibraltar, parrot's plantain to represent the British Virgin Islands and the tussock grass from the Falkland Islands.
At Kew Gardens a two minute silence will be observed at the gates at 11.00am on Armistice Day, 11 November, and again on Remembrance Sunday, 14 November. In respect the flag will fly from the flagpole at Victoria Gate at full mast from sunrise until sunset.
Many members of Kew's staff fell in the First World War - and even more in the Second World War. A second wreath will be laid at Kew's own war memorial on the north-eastern side of Victoria Plaza, a place for visitors and staff to place their poppies and flags in Remembrance.
This year the wreath will include:
| Latin Name | Common Name | Country of origin |
| Pedilanthus tithymaloides | slipper spurge | Anguilla |
| Juniperus bermudiana | Bermuda juniper | Bermuda |
| Chiococca bermudiana | Bermuda snowberry | Bermuda |
| moss species | British Antarctic Territory | |
| Ipomoea pes-caprae | beach morning glory | British Indian Ocean Territory |
| Heliconia psittacorum | parrot's plantain | British Virgin Islands |
| Olea europaea | olive | Gibraltar |
| Myrtus communis | common myrtle | Gibraltar |
| Chamaerops humilis | dwarf fan palm | Gibraltar |
| Anthurium hookeri | Montserrat | |
| Rhizophora mucronata | mangrove | Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oena Islands |
| Codiaeum variegatum | Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oena Islands | |
| Pelargonium cotyledonis | old Father live-for-ever | St Helena |
| Trochetiopsis ebenus | St Helena ebony | St Helena |
| Mellissia begonifolia | St Helena boxwood | St Helena |
| Commidendrum rugosum | scrubwood | St Helena Dependencies |
| moss species | S Georgia & S Sandwich Islands | |
| Hamelia patens | Turks & Caicos Islands | |
| Deschampsia flexuosa | tussock grass | Falkland Islands |
For more information please contact the Kew Press Office on 020 8332 5607 or email pr@kew.org
The Kew wreath is the only wreath of natural foliage laid at the Cenotaph. All other wreathes are made at the Poppy Factory.
A species page for the common poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is available here www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Papaver-rhoeas.htm
