Masumi Yamanaka, a resident botanical artist of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, suddenly stops in front of a 16-meter-tall tree and gestures upward.
"This is the Ginkgo biloba. She's over 250 years old," she says proudly as we admire its branches swaying in the breeze overhead. "Did you know her kind was on the planet when the dinosaurs roamed? Isn't that incredible?"
This is how Yamanaka — the curator of "Flora Japonica," a contemporary botanical illustration exhibition currently showing at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo — "introduces" visitors to the heritage trees at Kew gardens in London. "I always think of them as female, like Mother Nature," she says as we pause again on a detour to Kew's Herbarium, this time to greet a grove of giant pines. "Such species have adapted and survived so many environments on Earth — long before we even existed — so we really must respect them."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.