Origin of roasties: Darwin’s potato plant to go on display

A POTATO plant collected by Charles Darwin during his voyage on HMS Beagle is among dozens of rare botanical items to go on display to the public for the first time.

The specimen was found languishing in a cupboard of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) five years ago after being discovered by the naturalist on an island off Chile in 1835.

“It’s part of the history of science,” Tivvy Harvey, keeper of the RHS herbarium told the BBC. “It was part of the voyage and the voyage led to the theory of evolution.”

The plant will go on display as part of a £5 million project to develop the RHS’S National Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning, to be built at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, which will have state-of-the-art research facilities and showcase over one million nationally important science and heritage items, including more than 86,000 herbarium specimens, 24,000 insect specimens, 30,000 pieces of botanical art, 250,000 photographs and 100,000 books, all of which chart more than half a millennium of gardening history.

Sue Biggs, RHS director general, said: “We will reveal incredible horticultural treasures to the public so people can experience the wonders of gardening and see why we need everyone everywhere to garden and grow plants for the good of people, plants and the planet.”

The centre, which will open in 2020 and is being primarily funded by a grant from the National Lottery, will also house an early example of cultivated lavender as well as thousands of varieties of daffodils. It will highlight the work of the RHS to save daffodils in 1916 after the plants were almost wiped out by a mystery disease.