Meet The Plant Messiah

Carlos Magdalena is on a mission to save the plants. From his base at Kew Gardens, he travels the world to rescue tropical species from extinction. The botanical horticulturalist talks to James Lloyd

What started your love of plants?

I grew up in northwest Spain, in a region called Asturias on the Bay of Biscay. This is an incredibly biodiverse place, with the largest patch of primary deciduous forest in Europe, plus populations of wolves and brown bears! But it was also becoming one of the most industrialised areas in Spain. Within 30km, I could go from a lush, green world to a place of total destruction. I was fascinated by this contrast from an early age.

How did you end up working at Kew?

I didn’t have any formal qualifications in horticulture, but I managed to secure an internship in the Tropical Nursery. I enrolled on the three-year Kew Diploma in 2003, and over the next few years I began to earn a reputation for saving endangered tropical plants.

The ‘Plant Messiah’ nickname was given to me by a journalist in Spain, who obviously thought that I looked a bit like Jesus! But don’t worry, I don’t actually have a Messiah complex…

How do you actually go about saving a plant from extinction?