The two A-Listed Victorian Palm Houses and a modernist range of 1960s glasshouses at the heart of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh are to be restored thanks to a £4 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The grant will fund the re-display of their rare and endangered historic plant collections, create engaging new interpretation and deliver innovative new activities for visitors. 

The glasshouses contain some of the Garden's most iconic and spectacular plants, including including the enigmatic Amorphophallus titanum from Sumatra, which flowers at night and smells of rotting flesh. The project will ensure the safety of these globally significant living collections.

RBGE boasts a collection of 130,000 plants, some of which are two centuries old, and 13,500 species from 157 countries - the third most diverse collection in the world. Its herbarium contains over three million preserved specimens, including many of those collected by Charles Darwin and many famous Scottish plant hunters.