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'Plant Families' card game

We have produced a new card game for all the family that celebrates the Tercentenary of the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).

In the year of the 300th anniversary of the birth of the great naturalist Carl Linnaeus, Chelsea Physic Garden has produced a unique game of Happy Families that provides a fun lesson in plant identification. The cards make a perfect Christmas gift for anyone with an interest in gardening or botany. The 36 beautifully produced cards which are arranged in nine different plant families can also be used to play the Memory Game, the rules of both are included.

The plants featured in the pack are all familiar, economic or ornamental species and include: Lavender, Tomato, Apple, Clover, Cucumber, Oat, Fennel, Daisy and Radish.

Each pack of cards contains a short biography of Linnaeus, often called 'The father of taxonomy' who was the master of putting the natural world into order. His simple binomial system of genus (like a person's surname) followed by the species (like a person's first name) has enabled people all over the world to share a better understanding of the plant and animal kingdoms. The illustrations are from Elizabeth Blackwell's famous A Curious Herbal which dates from the 1730's when the young Carl Linnaeus visited Chelsea Physic Garden to exchange ideas with its most famous gardener, Philip Miller.

Packs of cards retail at £7 and are available from the Chelsea Physic Garden office. For more information, or to order cards, please phone 020 7352 5646 extension 28; or email enquiries@chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk

Publications for Sale

Snowdrop Days, details a very British obsession with snowdrops. It is available for sale for £5 including postage and packaging. Please contact the Garden for further details.