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Susan
Holmes was our speaker for the September meeting of the Elstead
Garden Club. She told us of her adventures collecting plants
for Kew. As well as being our club secretary she is a botanist
and lecturer, specialising in Aloes and Euphorbias. Her travels
on the subject have led her to Africa and lecturing in Europe
and the USA.
Susan joined Kew Gardens soon after college and specialised
in dry area plants. Women in those days (the fifties) were
not allowed to go on expeditions, so it was not until some
fifteen years later that she made her first overseas trip
to Africa. Permits for plant collecting had to be obtained
in advance and provisions sought, mainly dried packets and
tinned food. Kew plant experts work with the local people
who know the area and also act as interpreters.
On Susan's trip to Tanzania, every evening they pitched
camp, and being the only woman present she ended up doing
the cooking. Kew owns a LandRover which is kept in Tanzania
and looked after by a farmer.
The slides showed the many varieties of Aloes and Euphorbias
from the expedition in Tanzania. These ranged from small plants
to trees some of which can grow to thirty feet. The expeditions
are usually planned to take place just after the rainy season
when the ground has recovered from the dry season and is covered
in grasses and other vegetation. At this time of the year
there are leaves on the trees and all of the Aloe plants have
beautiful flowers, mostly red. Susan's job was to photograph,
take notes, and collect some specimens. The plants and flowers
were wrapped in newspaper, put in a frame for pressing, and
secured to the top of the LandRover where they dried. Any
samples that were still wet had to be re-wrapped in dry newspaper
and the wet newspaper dried for reuse another day. The dried
samples would be posted back to Kew (which took six to eight
weeks) and live plants were taken as hand luggage on the plane.
Susan was thanked for her most interesting talk and slide
show by the Chairman.
The next meeting is on Monday October 9th when
Mr Geoff Lunn will give us a talk on 'Surrey Safari'.
New members and visitors are welcome. We meet at the URC Hall
at 7.45pm
See you there.
Diana
Terry
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