Kew scientists have just launched research to study the market in bulrushes, bracken and burdock. They want to find the monetary worth, each year, of Britain's elderflower blooms, chestnut coppices, wild samphire, whortleberries and other wild plants. Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew long ago established that a hectare of flourishing Amazon rain-forest could be more valuable in cash terms as a sustainable harvest for the local community than as a stand of timber to be cleared once. Prendergast, leads research at the economic botany centre at Kew. Five years ago, he supervised a master's thesis on the value of the market for elderflower cordial, spritzer and presse.
Elder is a rampant tree that most gardeners curse.
Most of it was still coming from the wild. The researchers then looked at other plants that make money for small industries. Burdock and dandelion go into popular soft drinks. Dr Prendergast asks. Conserve it, and it will have extra value for the nation.