Last updated: 7 October 2020
| PlantNetwork member | |
| Address and contact details | |
| 66 Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HS | |
| Tel: 020 7352 5646 | |
| Email: enquiries@chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk | |
| Web site: www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk | |
| Latitude: 51° 29' 00" N | |
| Longitude: 0° 9' 44" E | |
| Background to the collection | |
| Year founded: | 1673 |
| Ownership: | Independent Charity |
| Garden code: | CHEL |
| Umbrella organisation: | PlantNetwork, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens |
| Personnel | |
| Director/Curator: | Sue Medway |
| Head Gardener: | Nell Jones |
| Deputy Head of Collections & Volunteer Manager: | Alison Napier |
| Glasshouse Manager: | Jess Snowball |
| Propagation Manager: | vacant |
| Plant Records Manager: | Kevin Creed |
| Contact person: | Nell Jones (njones@chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk) |
| Total Staff: | 17 (5 Horticultural Staff, 2 Education staff, 10 Administration Staff) |
| Total Horticultural Staff: | 5 |
| Policies | |
| Accessions: | To accession plant material which will (i) augment the Historic Walk with species linked to the curators and associates of the Garden with a current focus on Lindley and Fortune; (ii) augment the medicinal plant collections with species known or suspected of biological activity as well as species used for medicinal purposes; (iii) be only arboreal species that are rare and likely to benefit from our microclimate, or which are medicinal or linked to the Historic Walk; (iv) augment genera in which the Garden has specific research interst, e.g. Cistus, Narcissus, Pelargonium, Dryopteris, Trichomanes, Asplenium and various genera of Macaronesia and Mediterranean Island endemics. Almost entirely accessed by seed from other Botanic Gardens with policy on Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and prior informed consent clauses. |
| Collections: | Preference given to natural-source material with good field notes. |
| Physical environment | |
| Altitude: | 5 m |
| Soil type: | Riverbank alluvium, neutral |
| Aspect: | South and mostly flat |
| Total area: | 1.5 ha |
| Area heated: | 0.1A |
| Weather records | Records are kept |
| Temperature | |
| Av. monthly max: | 23.48 °C (2017) 17.06 °C (2014) |
| Av. monthly min: | 5.01 °C (2017) 9.4 °C (2014) |
| Absolute maximum: | 34.4 °C (June 2017) 26.56 °C (2014) |
| Absolute minimum: | -2.2 °C (January 2017) 4.2 °C (2014) |
| Wind | |
| Direction: | Westerly |
| Strength: | Below average |
| Rainfall | |
| Average annual: | 45.78 mm (2017) 556.45 mm (2014) |
| Month of maximum: | 92.5 mm (July 2017) |
| Month of minimum: | 5.2 mm (April 2017) |
| Plant collection | |
| Families: | 231 |
| Genera: | 1,503 |
| Species: | 3,883 |
| Taxa: | 5,004 |
| Accessions: | 6,350 |
| Plants: | 7,824 |
| Notable plants within the collection: | |
| Largest grapefruit tree and olive tree outside in British Isles. | |
| Geographical area(s) of specialisation: | |
| Macaronesia, Southern Africa | |
| Special families within the collections: | |
| Geraniaceae | |
| Special genera within the collections: | |
| Pelargonium | |
| Special collections: | |
| Medicinal Plants of the World, Plants used in Pharmaceuticals, Edible & Useful Plants, Historical Plants, Dicotyledon Order Beds, Medicinal Plants from Forest and Woodland, Pelargoniums | |
| Record Keeping: | Kept since 1946 Computerised |
| Record System: | IrisBG |
| Plant-collecting trips: | No |
| Facilities on site | |
| Herbarium: | Yes, wild and cultivated specimens. Includes bound historic herbaria |
| Library: | 400 items. Includes old herbals, ethnobotany, history of medicine, history of plant introductions. Public access only by prior appointment |
| Research facilities: | Seed bank |
| Publications: | Index Seminum, Garden Guide |
| Identifications: | Internal verification of material by specialist taxonomist Yes |
| Teaching and Education: | Primary, secondary, higher, taxonomic, public education, special courses |
| Interpretation: | Supervised garden walks, signs, brochures, guided trails |
| Friends Organisation: | Yes |
| Visitor facilities: | Café, plant shop, book shop, gift shop |
| Access to the collections | |
| Public access: | Admission charge |
| Visitors per year: | 55,000 |
| Public opening hours: | Please see our website for current opening hours, they change throughout the year. |
| Guiding principles behind the collection | |
| Chelsea Physic Garden was founded by the Society of Apothecaries in 1673 in order to promote study of botany for medicine, then known as the physic or healing arts. As the second oldest botanic garden in England, it still fulfils the traditional functions of scientific research and plant conservation, and undertakes to educate and inform as well as to provide the amenity of a walled 'secret' garden in the heart of London. Its aims are to demonstrate through its plantings and publications the range of species named or introduced to cultivation by a succession of distinguished curators; to pursue horticltural exellence, especially in the cultivation of rare and tender plants; to demonstrate, to all who visit, the many uses of plants and, particularly, the heritage of the plant world as our common medicine chest. | |
| Location map | |
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