Summary

In October 1987, a great storm drove in from the English Channel, devastating the southeastern counties of the British Isles. Huge gaps opened in the landscape of England, and the historic tree collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London, and Wakehurst Place in West Sussex lay fallen. The storm exposed the mortality of heritage trees for all to see and provided the impetus for a new wave of plant collecting by the Royal Botanic Gardens, led by the enterprising Mark Flanagan and Tony Kirkham. The losses sparked a realization: the collections at Kew and Wakehurst Place lacked key representatives of the world's temperate woodlands, and to fill the gaps, Flanagan and Kirkham looked east, to the species-rich temperate forests of Korea, Taiwan, eastern Russia and Japan. These hidden corners of the Far East became their hunting ground. Plants are at the heart of this story, and the descriptions convey the excitement of the find. The narrative unfolds with an immediacy that makes us feel right there beside them as they uncover rarities like Cotoneaster wilsonii (found only on the remote island of Ullung-Do), hang off the side of a gorge to collect the seed of Magnolia sieboldii and endure a punishing day in search of the Taiwan beech. Vividly illustrated with color maps and photographs, this entertaining travelogue will appeal to travellers, plant-lovers and anyone with an interest in the rich diversity of flora of the Far East.

Author Biography

Mark Flanagan is Keeper of the Gardens in Windsor Great Park.

Foreword

(5)

Roy Lancaster

Preface

(2)

Acknowledgements

(4)

An III Wind (MF)

(12)

The Garden of the World (MF)

(10)

Land of the Morning Calm (TK)

(59)

Atop the Jade Mountain (MF)

101

(58)

To Russia with Trepidation (MF)

159

(68)

Hokkaido, Alone? (TK)

227

(47)

In an English Garden (MF)

274

(22)

Select Bibliography

296

(3)

Index

299

Supplemental Materials

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Excerpts

I was summoned to Ian Beyer's office on a chilly autumn morning in 1988. As deputy curator of Kew's Living Collections Department, Ian enjoyed a formidable reputation and the respect of the botanic garden world. Many at Kew feared his no-nonsense approach but grudgingly acknowledged that he ran a tight ship firm but fair was the consensus. With Ian's reputation in mind I was more than a little apprehensive as I climbed the staircase of Aiton House in the Lower Nursery; named in honour of William Aiton, the first curator of the original 9-acre botanic garden started by Princess Augusta in 1759, this building acted as the curatorial nerve centre of Kew. I knocked lightly on the outer office door and was invited in and offered a seat looking out over the River Thames. Ian, a balding, portly man, came straight to the point. 'We want you to lead a seed collecting expedition to South Korea and begin the poststorm fieldwork programme'. Dumbstruck I searched for a response. I hadn't ventured into the field since a near fatal seed collecting trip to Chile with colleague Stewart Henchie in 1985. The memory of my brush with death a combination of salmonella typhoid, a military coup and a massive earthquake in Santiago was all too fresh in my mind, but here was an offer too good to miss and I was eager to oblige. Most collections from the 1982 Living Collections Department trip to South Korea, led by Ian Beyer, were now growing well in the arboretum and herbaceous section, but many areas on the mainland had not been visited and several collections failed to germinate or were not successfully established in the gardens the unfinished business. I therefore was to organise and lead a follow-up expedition next autumn, in 1989. I had to choose a colleague, which wasn't going to be too difficult, as there was really only one candidate who would be suitable: Mark Flanagan, a fairly new lad to Kew from Manchester, trained at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, who had recently moved to take a manager's post at Wakehurst Place. Ian made a telephone call to Tony Schilling, and the green light for Mark to participate was given. The invite was put to Mark, who didn't need much persuading. This was the start of an association that would make a significant impact on the future woody collections growing in the arboreta at Kew and Wakehurst Place. At the request of Grenville Lucas, keeper of the herbarium and chairman of the Fieldwork Committee, a third member would join us: Peter Boyce, an assistant scientific officer and Araceae expert in the herbarium who required real fieldwork experience. Our hosts would be the Korean Forestry Research Institute, who successfully administered the 1982 expedition jointly with the Korean Horticultural Society. Contacts were made with Mr Jo Jae-Myung, the director general in Seoul, and once again he and his colleagues kindly offered their valuable help and assistance, which Mark and I gratefully took up. The offices

Excerpted from Plants from the Edge of the World: New Explorations in the Far East by Mark Flanagan, Tony Kirkham
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