The building outside the main entrance of the gardens, to the north, was once occupied by Ernest, Duke of Cumberland; it now contains the Herbarium of over two million plants (by far the largest in the world) and the Library of 24, 000 volumes. The fine wrought-iron gates at the main entrance to the Gardens were designed by Decimus Burton (1845).
Within the gardens, to the right, is the Aroid House, brought from Buckingham Palace in 1836; it contains plants of the arum family, also pepper, ginger, arrowroot, etc. At the end of this walk, to the right, lies Kew Palace, or the Dutch House, a red-brick building erected by Samuel Fortrey, the son of a Dutch refugee, in 1631. It now contains a collection of pictures, furniture, and other souvenirs of George III. and his family (guide 6d.). The sun dial on the lawn in front marks the site of the east wing of Kew House. We return to the Broad Walk, at the corner of which stands Museum III, once the Orangery, now containing specimens of timber, a collection of fir-cones, a model of a Japanese shrine, and numerous old pictures of Kew Gardens. We cross the lawn, passing some fine old trees and a wistaria which used to grow round the old tropical house, to the adjacent group of Hothouses. No. 2 contains tropical ferns, No. 2A the filmy ferns, No. 3 the cool ferns; No. 4 is devoted to a display of flowers in season; No. 5 is the succulent house, containing cacti and agaves. Close by is another group of hothouses known from its shape as the T Range. No. 7 contains plants from South Africa; No. 8, begonias; No. 9, tropical stove-plants, with the pitcher-plants alongside; No. 10, the water-lily tank in which the Victoria Regia is sometimes grown (if not here, then in No. 15), with the insectivorous plants in the south porch; Nos. 11 and 12, economic plants; Nos. 13, 13A, 13B, 14, 14A, and 14B, the Orchids. Outside No. 12 lies the Hardy Fernery, for British and other open-air ferns. To the west of the T Range lie the Rock Garden and Alpine House (No. 24; adjoining Museum II), with a collection of Alpine plants; the latter is open only from January to June. The Herbaceous Ground, an old-fashioned 'physic garden,' contains over 7000 different species of herbaceous plants arranged according to their natural affinities. Museum II, to the north, is devoted to the economic products obtained from monocotyledons and cryptogams (grasses, palms, ferns, fungi, etc.). To the north of the museum lies the Aquatic Garden, beyond which is Cambridge Cottage, once a residence of the Dukes of Cambridge and now occupied by Museum IV, or the museum of British forestry. Returning to the south past the T Range, we see on our left the Temple of ﾦolus, situated on a mound in the middle of a Wild Garden. To the left of the pond lies Museum I, illustrating commercial botany. Note the model of the Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world, on the first floor. At the opposite end of the pond is the Palm House, built in 1844-48 by Decimus Burton, 362 feet long and, in the centre, 100 feet wide and 66 feet high, with a gallery 30 feet from the floor. It contains almost every known variety of palm, besides the banana, coffee-plant, etc. Note the Pandanus, or screw-pine, in the north wing. At the back of the Palm House lies the Italian Garden. To the north is the Water Lily House (No. 15), where the Victoria Regia is sometimes grown. It contains also lotus-plants, papyrus, hibiscus, etc.
