A Royal Botanic Society drawing of a lotus.

London, Feb. 17: The beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in west London ? known across the world simply as Kew Gardens ? is focusing on a list of 25 plants, trees, herbs and spices from South Asia in an imaginative experiment designed to help Indians feel more at home in Britain.

The scheme, aimed at bringing together ?people and plants?, is to be run by Kew Gardens at the behest of the government?s department for culture, media and sports.

To ensure people, parents and children all over Britain ? and indeed, all over the world ? can participate, the information and experiments will be available on the department?s Plant Cultures website, www.plantcultures.org.uk.

?The Internet is a powerful resource and Plant Cultures, commissioned by Culture Online, shows how technology can be used to bring people together to share their knowledge and personal stories,? arts minister Estelle Morris said.

Observers in Britain said they found no reason why the ?wonderful? (Royal) Botanic Gardens in Calcutta could not initiate a similar programme.

The intention is to show that there is an organic connection that binds British Asians with the rest, and that everyone can have a lot of fun discovering more about the herbs and spices in everyday use.

The list begins with banyan, betel nut, black pepper, cardamom, chilli pepper, coconut, cotton, curry leaf and garlic. Then it progresses to ginger, hemp, henna, holy basil, indigo, lotus, mango and marigold. And, then follows the neem tree, opium poppy, rice, sandalwood, sugarcane, tamarind, tea and turmeric.

The British have much to learn. They know how to tell fortunes from tea leaves but not that turmeric is good for the complexion, especially for brides. Henna, though, has caught on, assisted by Madonna.

In Britain, as in India, nothing gets launched without ?celebrities? and this campaign is no different. On Tuesday, botanists, chefs and the media gathered at the Cinnamon Club, an expensive Indian restaurant.

Gurinder Chadha, director, whose films include What?s Cooking, gushed: ?I think this is a fantastic project. I cook with so many of the plants in the 25 list and like most Indians cannot live without chillies. I first visited Kew Gardens on a school trip many, years ago and found it to be really exotic. I hope this new project will bring in people of all ages and all cultures to this great British family tradition.?

Well-known chef and cookery writer Keith Floyd said: ?Britain?s multicultural society has enriched our national larder. I have cooked around the world and know the joy of tamarind, holy basil, lotus and marigold, but it wasn?t until my first visit to India that I discovered the aromatic joy of the curry leaf.?

Konnie Huq, a Bangladeshi who presents BBC?s Blue Peter, said: ?My favourite from the 25 plants in Plant Cultures is mango.?

Thanks partly to Prince Charles, the medicinal properties of Indian plants are now recognised. Trudy Norris, of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, said: ?The western medical herbalists dispensary would not be complete without the range of herbs and spices offered to us by nature.?

A huge library of prints, paintings, drawings and artefacts is being made available for the project, drawn from several library collections.

Professor Monique Simmonds, Kew science co-ordinator, said: ?We hope that Plant Cultures will be an inspiration for people of all ages, and especially British Asians, to get excited about plants and their place in our lives. We use plants in our everyday life without a second thought. This project recognises just how important they are to our culture ? from our daily cuppa, the sugar to go in it, or the ingredients of curry, our favourite national dish ? to the place we worship, the colour of our jeans ? and for some of us, our hair.?