An exhibition and attendant body of research dedicated to generating conversations about botanical rarity in one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.

Two “Octagons” in Kew’s Temperate House were converted—one into a “Room of Rarity”, the other into a “Room of Extinction”. Each celebrated and foregrounded those plants either on the brink of extinction, or which are extinct in the wild. The specimens which were exhibited are not usually found on display, instead they reside behind the scenes, within Kew’s Tropical Nursery:

1. Room of Extinction
Aloe albiflora, Brighamia insignis, Brugmansia species, Deppea splendens, Cylindrocline lorencei, Erica verticillata, Furcraea macdougallii, Passiflora cremastantha, Rhododendron kanehirae, Sophora toromiro, Trochetiopsis erythroxylon

2. Room of Rarity
Aloe ramosissima, Banksia verticillate, Cleistocactus winteri, Commidendrum robustum, Conophytum species, Cypripedium calceolus, Encephalartos laevifolius, Euphorbia obesa, Nymphaea thermarum, Ravenea moorei, Trochetiopsis ebenus, Worsley procera