Soap stars in Kew revamp

Research will be the focus of exhibits in the revamped 141-year-old Lakeside building at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London. Curator of the Centre for Economic Botany Hew Prendergast says the centre has a collection of more than 75,000 botanical artefacts from around the world. Some exhibits such as soap and toothpaste made from a wild tree from the dry interior of northeast Brazil were collected as part of the Kew/Brazilian project Plantas do Nordeste, and demonstrate how local plants can form the basis for sustainable economic development in rural areas.