We put a huge amount of passion, creativity and attention-to-detail into researching our unique scents. Kingdom Botanica took two years of research and development with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. We worked with their incredible team of archivists, botanists, horticulturalists and gardeners to delve into over 350 years of plant adventure and protection. Together we have created an extraordinary sustainable, ethical and biodiverse perfume. Here we wanted to introduce the botanist Dr Greg Kenicer…..

Please can you introduce yourself and your role at the RBGE?

I’m a botanist and senior lecturer at ‘the Botanics’. My role is a mixture of research and teaching about plants. My research covers a couple of broad areas. First, useful plants - with a bit of focus on traditional and potential plant use in Scotland. Second is the peas and their wold relatives. This might seem a little niche, but they are fascinating organisms. I’ll stop there, or you’ll have a 100,000 word essay on your hands….

Teaching is at all levels and across a huge range of botanical topics to all kinds of people from the UK and beyond - from botanical artists to school pupils, to aspiring or expert gardeners.

The pioneering work of the RGBE is very much focused on protecting and understanding biodiversity. How does your role contribute to this?

Absolutely - both aspects of my role address this. One facet is the education - helping to enthuse people about quite how magical plants are. It’s a joy to see someone watch a plant move, or find out why pea roots contain haemoglobin - a compound just like the one in our blood. When people are inspired by plants they quickly discover how plants are the very foundation of almost all life. When people value plants and biodiversity they find out all these surprising ways they support our existence as a species. Part of my role is to spark this first interest.

I’ve also had the recent luxury of focussing on my research as well - looking at how people traditionally use plants, and delving deep into the world of peas and their relatives. I could go off on one on either of these topics and you’d not rein me in, so let’s just say they’re fascinating and hold huge potential for making humanity’s time on this planet more sustainable by developing new ways of growing better crops, finding new medicines, brightening up gardens or using our wild flora more sustainably and responsibly.

How long have you worked with the RBGE?

23 years now - with.a few years away for PhD in Tokyo

What does the RBGE mean to you?

Too much to put in a few sentences, and I’m in danger of using hyperbole, but I think the place deserves them. It is so much - a haven for plants from across the world, and a place where these incredibly important national collections of plants - both living and preserved, as well as an incredible library and archive are housed for the future. The fact that RBGE and our worldwide partners use these collections for such a wide range of vibrant and modern botanical research makes it a real gem. I think it is essential that people realise how important this research is for a healthy planet and healthy humans - I believe the RBGE symbolises this world beautifully.

Like many folk, I also see it as an inspiration of artists, and over a million members of the public a year - it is a timeless oasis in the middle of the city - a place to learn, to grow and to take inspiration from nature. And its reach is global - our researchers work with people from over 80 countries on projects worldwide. We train people worldwide too - in person, visiting us in Edinburgh, or with Propagate Learning, our hugely popular online learning platform.

On a personal level, it’s a place where I get to work at one of the most engaging and rewarding jobs in the world - investigate and hopefully inspire others with quite how fascinating and important plants are. Also, it’s where I met my wife, and like many folk in Edinburgh, its where my kids learned to walk.

So it means almost everything to me.

The RBGE is over 350 years old. What does this mean for you?

The RBGE has such a rich history but with incredible potential for the future. The idea that a few people had in the 17th century to make a physic garden to train physicians, to produce something of service to humanity, touching on health, learning and understanding the diversity of the natural world os superb. To see how much the garden has achieved and how much it has grown is superb. To see how much the garden has achieved and how much it has grown is great. I love how all this history and exploration of biodiversity helps us rise to the challenges that humans, plants and the habitats we share face in the coming centuries.

The British Garden as we know it is very much down to the pioneering adventures of the Scottish botanists. Could you tell us about your favourite examples of this?

I think some of the very early pioneers of botany were fascinating characters and many of their writings are as much about the people and politics of what they were seeing. It’s difficult to pick out any one, but I do like folk like Archibald Menzies and James Douglas - some of the early 19th century.

What are your favourite findings or aspects of the RBGE and why?

I love every aspect of the place, but the top of the list is my colleagues. Their passion, knowledge, kindness and the joy they all have at different aspects of the garden or plants in general is pretty humbling to see.

Tell us about the perfume creation - how you worked with Imogen of Kingdom Scotland - and tell us about your experience of telling the story of over 350 years of biodiversity in scent.

It is amazing to see artisans at work in any field. The great thing is the sheer biodiversity the perfume brings to life, the ‘Majesty of the Green Kingdom’ - I love that mix of woody and floral and the greens are in there too. It is like the fragrance version of fieldwork, evoking these rich and beautiful habitats and plants from all over the globe.

Image credit - Susie Lowe Photography for Homes and Interiors Scotland - This Life feature.