The Linnean Society in London is the oldest learned society in the world devoted to the study of natural history. It was founded in 1788, and is home to the collection of Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish scientist, who developed the Linnean classification system. The Linnean herbarium contains over 14,000 plant specimens. It is possible to visit this treasure trove on guided tours - the Society is in Burlington House, also home to the Royal Academy in Piccadilly.
However, my visit to the Society was not to visit this collection (although I will be returning for a tour another the day). It was for a curator-led tour of the exhibition ‘Lovely as a tree’, bringing together some of the Society’s tree-related collection. It was led by Isabelle Charmentier, who is Head of Collections, and provided a fascinating glimpse into different aspects of the collection.
It was hard to get good pictures of some of the exhibits because of reflections, but here are a few.
These books show two 16th century representations of a cherry tree, the top book being from 1542 and the bottom one being from 1597. The illustrations were hand coloured, often by the people who bought them, which Isabelle said could lead to some very strange colours being used, not true to life. 16th century colouring books for rich tree lovers!
This leaf is from the collection of Pleasance Smith, wife of Sir James Edward Smith, who founded the Linnean Society. She outlived her husband by 49 years, living to the age of 103. This leaf was collected six years after the death of her husband. I love the note with the leaf - ‘sweet calm poetic morning’. Her Wikipedia page says she was ‘trained by both her parents to a love of nature and of literature' - and she clearly continued to maintain both of these interests throughout her life, including becoming editor of her husband’s memoir and correspondence.
One of the other cases in the exhibition is focused on the economics of trees. The picture above is of a package of cabbage palm seeds (note the drawing of the tree!). This is one example of the seeds from the J.E. Smith Carpological (fruits and seeds) collection. The caption in the exhibition references New Zealand, but the envelope itself says Norfolk Island. This is a small island in the Pacific Ocean, which was uninhabited at the time of settlement by the British in 1788. Just looking up about Norfolk Island sent me down a rabbit hole - this page has information and pictures about the plants there. (Speaking of rabbit holes, takes me back to Pleasance Smith - when she was 99, she received a letter from Alice Pleasance Liddell, her great-niece, who was the Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.) It reminded me of a talk that I listened to by Sathnam Sangera about the role of plants in the British empire, linked to his book Empireland. You can watch the 5 x 15 talk here, which also features the writer Andrea Wulf, and Emma Nicholson, who is Head of Art at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
And if you’re wondering about the tree used in the poster for the exhibition it is the Mora tree of Guinea. The picture is by Robert Schomburgk and was used to accompany a paper that he read at a meeting of the Linnean Society on 20 March 1838. You can read more about it on this blog by Isabelle Charmentier. The wood from the tree is known as nato, and is used in the manufacture of guitars.
The exhibition is on until 28 June. And if you want to use the library, it is open to anyone, no membership is needed. They just advise calling a day in advance to check that there are no special events on. The library includes some of the latest tree and plant-related books, as well as the older collections. Perhaps in a year’s time, To Hear the Trees Speak will be gracing the shelves! Now, that would be an honour.
The tour was organised as part of the Urban Tree Festival, which is on now and running through to 19 May. Many of the events are in London, but there are also events in Brighton and other cities around the UK, and also online. You can find the full programme here.
On the way to and from the exhibition, I walked through Green Park and the trees were certainly looking lovely in the spring light.