After A 5 Year Restoration Project,

costing £41 million,

 the Temperate House is open at Kew once more,

visitors will pass the Roman gods Flora and Silvanus, who stand on the entrance to the Temperate House, 

 Kew explained that some of the tallest plants that were hitting the roof of the glasshouse have been replaced with smaller specimens, siblings that came from seeds, cuttings and grafts and other breeding methods to allow more light through and to allow for a greater variety of specimens lower down, 

 the glasshouse first opened in 1863 and was a home to some of the world's most rare and threatened plants,

 Kew Gardens says that as visitors enter the glasshouse they will embark on a round-the-world adventure,

 They might find themselves in South Africa, where they will see the cycad Encephalartos woodii, the famous 'loneliest tree (plant) in the world',

its Jurassic appearance helped it to withstand the nibbles of prehistoric predators but now only male specimens exist and the quest for a female has been unsuccessful, another treasure is the Dombeya mauritiana tree, thought to be extinct in the wild until Kew's Carlos Magdalena found one growing in the highlands of Mauritius, Mr Magdalena was able to gather and return with cuttings, and Kew is now the only place in the world with this tree in cultivation, around the corner, from the mountains of Nepal, visitors will encounter the Taxus wallichiana, exploited for the Taxol market (a chemotherapy drug) and now subject to a clonal propagation program to help conserve it in the wild, and all of these can be seen from the newly restored walkways,

Richard Barley, director of horticulture at Royal Botantic Gardens Kew, added: 'It's been amazing watching this project unfold, the building emerge gloriously and some of the world's rarest plants safely reach their home, 'The Temperate House is a glistening cathedral where the new glass allows the sun to stream in and the ironwork has been restored to its glossy best.' I wish we were there now.