I have been fascinated by plants since I was a small boy. Originally a horticulturist, I studied horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. I also studied botany and mycology at university, after which I worked as a field botanist for a regional conservation organisation. After 12 years as a senior botany curator at the Natural History Museum, London I am now a consultant forensic botanist, public speaker and occasional radio and TV presenter. I am the honorary curator of Carl Linnaeus’s herbarium at the Linnean Society of London, one of the most significant collections in the history of science. I have a strong interest in the history of botany and botanic gardens, invasive non-native species and the flora of North-West Europe.