A talk, Preserving Plant-lore, was one of two talks, the other being on Kew’s Millennium Seedbank, which formed the Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society’s ‘Focus Meeting’ on 30 November 2024.  About 35 people were present.

Chris Cockel started the afternoon by providing a wide-ranging account of the Seedbank’s work.  Then followed  ‘refreshments’, a bountiful afternoon tea.  Roy Vickery followed by explaining how his interest in plant folklore started, and how it continues 50 years later.  He thinks that it’s important to preserve the traditional knowledge associated with plants, as well as the plants themselves, and believes that plant-lore can be used to encourage people to become more aware of the natural word.  Several people contributed to the following discussion, and some recorded their memories for inclusion in P-LA.

‘It was very interesting.’

Image:  title slide, depicting shelves holding some of the c.10m of the P-LA material collected so far.