Today's photographs are courtesy of Lindsay McGhee, from her December 2004 trip to Malaysia. Lindsay is a UBC biology student and aspiring botanical illustrator (who also happens to be working with me on the garden's John Davidson project). She's kindly offered to share a few photographs from her trip, so expect more in the future.

The Cameron Highlands are Malaysia's largest tea-producing region. The tea plantations date back to the time of the British Colonial era, when tea was a valuable commodity. Tea, however, dates back much longer – three thousand years, give or take, since a brew was first derived from the leaves and leaf buds of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis.

The tea plant is a native of southeast Asia, though it is now widely cultivated around the world in tropical and subtropical areas.

To read more about the tea-making process, visit Camellia sinensis from Purdue University's Center for New Crops and Plants Products.

A few more photographs of the Cameron Highlands and area can be seen here.

For local readers: Douglas Justice, the garden's Curator of Collections, will be leading a three hour-long tree walk this Sunday (June 19) at the Riverview Grounds in Coquitlam. If you haven't seen Douglas talk about trees before, you're missing out. For location information, see the Tree Tours page from the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society or read their recent newsletter.

Conservation (of a different sort) resource link: the Antarctic Conservation Blog, hosted by the Natural History Museum in London. Follow the stories of three conservators who are documenting and conserving the artefacts within the Antarctic explorer's hut left by Shackleton after his 1908 expedition.