Behind the scenes at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London

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Wet room The herbarium also holds many plant samples that cannot be pressed or dried. These are preserved using a mixture of methylated spirit (to stop mould and fungus from attacking the sample), formaldehyde (which fixes the plants), glycerol (to prevent the specimen going brittle) and water. Here, a member of the herbarium team removes a sample of the palm Areca triandra, collected from south-east Asia.

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Size: 6144px × 4096px
Location: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London
Photo credit: © David Stock / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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