She's a Hollywood A-lister, with a mantelpiece groaning under the weight of awards. But Cate Blanchett has taken an unexpected diversion from her day job - to immerse herself in the world of the humble seed.
Her eyes light up as she enthuses about the banksia species from her native Australia.
"It's quite a brutal looking seed pod that only releases its seed in extremely high temperatures," she tells us.
"It does look like a cross between a mallet and a toilet brush. So they're not always pretty, but yet what comes out of them is so spectacular."
We meet her at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst botanic garden in Sussex. She lives locally and teamed up with the project as it celebrates its 25th anniversary.
