ABSTRACT:

The Botanic Gardens at Kew first came into existence in the eighteenth century when Princess Augusta, mother of George III of Great Britain, had part of the Royal Estate at Kew converted for this purpose in 1759. We can gather some idea of the aroid collections at Kew in those early days from the famous "Hortus Kewensis", a threevolume work published in 1789, and written by William Aiton, Kew's first Head Gardener. From this source, in which all the species then in cultivation at Kew were described and classified, we know that the aroid collection amounted to 21 species, or more than half the total number known to the botanical world of the day. Since that time, of course, the number of described taxa of Araceae has mushroomed to the present approximately 2000 species and 110 genera, and though the aroid collection at Kew can fairly claim to be one of the most comprehensive to be found anywhere in the world today, its representation of some 70 genera and 450 species nevertheless leaves ample scope for expansion.