The flowers of the Pohutukawa (Metrosideros
of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in
excelsa or New Zealand Christmas tree)
2007-8. Spanning over four centuries, the
were used by European settlers to decorate
collection offers matchless coverage of
their homes at Christmas. The illustration is
Britain’s role as a trading nation and imperial
from Native Flowers of New Zealand, by Mrs
and diplomatic power. The transfer will ensure
Georgina Barnes Hetley (London: Sampson Low,
that this unique collection is fully accessible to
1888), one of over 60,000 volumes transferred to
the scholarly community. See www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/
the College from the historical library collection
library/spec/collections/indiv/fco.html