# Wardian case

> Source: [Wardian case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case)
> Clipped: 2026-07-06

Wardian case

Early type of terrarium, a sealed protective container for plants

[![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Wardian_Case.jpg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wardian_Case.jpg)

A Wardian case

The **Wardian case** was an early type of [terrarium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrarium "Terrarium"), a sealed protective container for plants. It found great use in the 19th century in protecting foreign plants imported to Europe from overseas, the great majority of which had previously died from exposure during long sea journeys, frustrating the many scientific and amateur botanists of the time. The Wardian case was the direct forerunner of the modern terrarium and [vivarium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivarium "Vivarium") and the inspiration for the glass [aquarium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarium "Aquarium").

It is named after [Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Bagshaw_Ward "Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward") (1791–1868) of London, who promoted the case after experiments.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-1) He published a book titled *On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases* in 1842.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-2) A Scottish botanist named A. A. Maconochie had created a similar terrarium almost a decade earlier, but his failure to publish meant that Ward received credit as the sole inventor.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-Atlantic2017-3)

## History and development

[![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Wardian_cases.jpg/250px-Wardian_cases.jpg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wardian_cases.jpg)

Four distinct styles of Wardian cases

Ward was a physician with a passion for botany. His personally collected [herbarium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbarium "Herbarium") amounted to 25,000 specimens. The [ferns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern "Fern") in his [London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London "London") garden in [Wellclose Square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellclose_Square "Wellclose Square"), however, were being poisoned by London's [air pollution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution "Air pollution"), which consisted heavily of coal smoke and [sulphuric acid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuric_acid "Sulfuric acid").

Ward also kept [cocoons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoon_(silk) "Cocoon (silk)") of [moths](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moth "Moth") and the like in sealed glass bottles, and in one, he found that a fern [spore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore "Spore") and a species of [grass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poaceae "Poaceae") had germinated and were growing in a bit of soil. Interested but not yet seeing the opportunities, he left the seal intact for about four years, noting that the grass actually bloomed once. After that time however, the seal had become rusted, and the plants soon died from the bad air.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-GAERTNER-4) Understanding the possibilities, he had a carpenter build him a closely fitted glazed wooden case and found that ferns grown in it thrived.

Ward published his experiment and followed it up with a book in 1842, *On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases*.

English [botanists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanist "Botanist") and commercial nurserymen had been passionately prospecting the world for new plants since the end of the 16th century, but these had to travel as [seeds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed "Seed") or [corms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corm "Corm"), or as dry [rhizomes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizome "Rhizome") and roots, as salty air, lack of light, lack of fresh water and lack of sufficient care often destroyed all or almost all plants even in large shipments.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-GAERTNER-4) With the new Wardian cases, tender young plants could be set on deck to benefit from daylight and the [condensed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensation "Condensation") moisture within the case that kept them watered, but protected from salt spray.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-Atlantic2017-3)

The first test of the glazed cases was made in July 1833, when Ward shipped two specially constructed glazed cases filled with British ferns and grasses all the way to [Sydney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney "Sydney"), Australia, a voyage of several months that found the protected plants still in good condition upon arrival. Other plants made a return trip: a number of Australian native species that had never survived the transportation previously.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-Atlantic2017-3) The plants arrived in good shape after a stormy voyage around [Cape Horn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Horn "Cape Horn").

One of Ward's correspondents was [William Jackson Hooker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jackson_Hooker "William Jackson Hooker"), later director of the [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Botanic_Gardens,_Kew "Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew"). Hooker's son [Joseph Dalton Hooker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dalton_Hooker "Joseph Dalton Hooker") was one of the first plant explorers to use the new Wardian cases, when he shipped live plants back to England from [Aotearoa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aotearoa "Aotearoa")/New Zealand in 1841, during the pioneering voyage of [HMS *Erebus*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Erebus_(1826) "HMS Erebus (1826)") that circumnavigated Antarctica.

[![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Ward%27scher_Kasten.jpg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ward'scher_Kasten.jpg)

Another style of Wardian case

Wardian cases soon became features of stylish [drawing rooms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawing_room "Drawing room") in Western Europe and the United States. In the polluted air of [Victorian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era "Victorian era") cities, the [fern craze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteridomania "Pteridomania") and the [craze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchidelirium "Orchidelirium") for growing [orchids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchid "Orchid") that followed owed much of their impetus to the new Wardian cases.

More importantly, the Wardian case unleashed a revolution in the mobility of commercially important plants. In the 1840s, [Robert Fortune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fortune "Robert Fortune") used Wardian cases to ship 20,000 [tea plants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_sinensis "Camellia sinensis") to [British India](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India "Presidencies and provinces of British India"), smuggling them out of [Shanghai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai "Shanghai"), China, to begin the [tea plantations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam_tea "Assam tea") of [Assam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam "Assam"). In 1860, [Clements Markham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clements_Markham "Clements Markham") used Wardian cases to smuggle the [cinchona](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinchona "Cinchona") plant out of South America.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-Atlantic2017-3) In the 1870s, after germination of imported [hevea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hevea "Hevea") seeds in the heated glasshouses of Kew, seedlings of the [rubber tree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hevea_brasiliensis "Hevea brasiliensis") of Brazil were shipped successfully in Wardian cases to Ceylon ([Sri Lanka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka "Sri Lanka")) and the new British territories in [Malaya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Malaya "British Malaya") to start the rubber plantations.

[![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Wardian_Case_-_Hortus_Botanicus_Amsterdam_-_July_2011.jpg/250px-Wardian_Case_-_Hortus_Botanicus_Amsterdam_-_July_2011.jpg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wardian_Case_-_Hortus_Botanicus_Amsterdam_-_July_2011.jpg)

Wardian case - Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam - July 2011

Wardian cases have thus been credited for helping break geographic [monopolies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly "Monopoly") in the production of important agricultural goods.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-Atlantic2017-3)

Kew Gardens used Wardian cases to ship plants abroad up until 1962.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-Atlantic2017-3)

Wardian cases unintentionally caused the introduction of many [invasive species](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species "Invasive species") around the world, such as the [Japanese honeysuckle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honeysuckle "Japanese honeysuckle"), which invaded most of the United States and other countries from its native East Asia. The pathologist and horticulturalist [Beverly Thomas Galloway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Thomas_Galloway "Beverly Thomas Galloway"), chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, noted in 1924 that they were probably "the means of scattering more dangerous [insects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect "Insect"), [nematodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematode "Nematode"), and other [pests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest_(organism) "Pest (organism)") over the earth than almost any other form of carrier.”[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-KEOGH-5)

The oldest surviving Wardian case is believed to be from circa 1880, discovered at [Tregothnan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tregothnan "Tregothnan") in 1999.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed "Wikipedia:Citation needed")*]

Ward was always active in the [Society of Apothecaries of London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Apothecaries_of_London "Society of Apothecaries of London"), of which he became Master in 1854. Until 1899, the Society managed the [Chelsea Physic Garden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Physic_Garden "Chelsea Physic Garden"), London, the second oldest botanical garden in the UK.[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_note-–_via_Gale_Academic_OneFile-6) Ward was a founding member of both the [Botanical Society of Edinburgh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanical_Society_of_Edinburgh "Botanical Society of Edinburgh") and the [Royal Microscopical Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Microscopical_Society "Royal Microscopical Society"), a Fellow of the [Linnean Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linnean_Society "Linnean Society") and a Fellow of the [Royal Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society "Royal Society").

## See also

* [Vivarium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivarium "Vivarium")
* [Pteridomania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteridomania "Pteridomania")
* [Bottle garden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle_garden "Bottle garden")
* [Biotope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotope "Biotope")

## References

1. [↑](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-1) [Allaby, Michael](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Allaby "Michael Allaby") (2010). *Plants, Food, Medicine and the Green Earth*. New York: Facts on File. p. 103. [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_(identifier) "ISBN (identifier)") [9781438129679](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781438129679 "Special:BookSources/9781438129679").
2. [↑](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-2) Thacker, Christopher (1985). [*The History of Gardens*](https://archive.org/details/historyofgardens00chri). Berkeley: University of California Press. p. [237](https://archive.org/details/historyofgardens00chri/page/237). [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_(identifier) "ISBN (identifier)") [9780520056299](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780520056299 "Special:BookSources/9780520056299").
3. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-Atlantic2017_3-0) [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-Atlantic2017_3-1) [3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-Atlantic2017_3-2) [4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-Atlantic2017_3-3) [5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-Atlantic2017_3-4) [6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-Atlantic2017_3-5) Maylack, Jen (12 November 2017). ["How a Glass Terrarium Changed the World"](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/11/how-a-glass-terrarium-changed-the-world/545621/). *The Atlantic*. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
4. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-GAERTNER_4-0) [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-GAERTNER_4-1) Gadient, Hansjörg (12 September 2010). ["Exotische Pflanzen - Matrosen sind keine Gärtner"](http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/technik/0,1518,716382,00.html). *[Spiegel Online](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegel_Online "Spiegel Online")* (in German). Retrieved 6 September 2011.
5. [↑](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-KEOGH_5-0) Keogh, Luke (17 May 2017). ["The Wardian Case: How a Simple Box Moved the Plant Kingdom"](https://arboretum.harvard.edu/arnoldia-stories/the-wardian-case-how-a-simple-box-moved-the-plant-kingdom/). *[Arnoldia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnoldia_(journal) "Arnoldia (journal)")*. **74** (4): 2–13. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
6. [↑](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case#cite_ref-–_via_Gale_Academic_OneFile_6-0) Elliot, Charles (November–December 1998). [*Horticulture: The Art of American Gardening*](https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A21273217/AONE?u=mosc00780&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=faf427dd). p. 95.

## Further reading

* Jones, Felicity (2025). *Case Studies: A Story of Plant Travel*. Auckland: Massey University Press.
* Allen, David Elliston (1969). *The Victorian Fern Craze*. London: Hutchinson.
* Hershey, David (May 1996). "Doctor Ward's Accidental Terrarium". *The American Biology Teacher*. **58** (5): 276–281. [doi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doi_(identifier) "Doi (identifier)"):[10.2307/4450151](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F4450151). [JSTOR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier) "JSTOR (identifier)") [4450151](https://www.jstor.org/stable/4450151).
* Boyd, Peter D. A. (2002-01-02). ["Pteridomania - the Victorian passion for ferns"](http://www.peterboyd.com/pteridomania.htm). *Antique Collecting*. Revised: web version. **28** (6): 9–12. Retrieved 2007-10-02.

## External links

[![Wikimedia Commons logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/40px-Commons-logo.svg.png)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Commons-logo.svg)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Wardian cases](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wardian%20cases "commons:Category:Wardian cases").

* [Biography of Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward](https://www.plantexplorers.com/explorers/biographies/ward/nathaniel-bagshaw-ward.htm)
* [David Hershey's website devoted to Ward and his discovery](http://community.fortunecity.ws/greenfield/clearstreets/84/ward/dh321.html)
* ["The Remarkable Case of Dr Ward" at the *Telegraph*](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3296777/The-remarkable-case-of-Dr-Ward.html)

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