Adventures of ‘the plant messiah’


Magdalena examining a giant Amazon water lily at the Princess of Wales Conservatory at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London. — ©2024 The New York Times Company

CARLOS Magdalena (pic), a research horticulturalist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London, has ventured into extraordinary situations to rescue rare plants.

In Australia, he searched for plants by helicopter and waded through crocodile-infested waters. In Colombia, he braved piranha-filled rivers, jumping between planks in darkness at 4am to reach a floating pontoon.

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