Best job in natural world Modern-day Darwin sets out to document plants

It was described as "the best job in the natural world": an expedition botanist for Cambridge University Botanic Garden who would follow in Charles Darwin's footsteps and go on plant-collecting adventures around the world.

- Donna Ferguson

Within days of the job advertisement going viral, six people had sent it to Matthew Jeffery and suggested he apply.

"I was already working as a tree-seed collector for the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew Gardens, collecting native trees from across the UK, and I'd done a lot of European plant exploring - particularly of alpine plants - on holidays with friends," said Jeffery, 31, who has degrees in biology and plant taxonomy and has also worked at Chelsea Physic Garden.

After realising he had the right skills for the role, which involves organising and leading international expeditions to collect and observe wild plants and seeds, he decided to apply - and was appointed in March. It is believed to be the first time in modern history that a British botanic garden has hired an expedition botanist.

"It's very daunting," Jeffery said - but also inspiring. "I learn a lot more from talking to people from different places about local plants and their uses than I could ever learn from reading about them in a book."

He hopes to make discoveries with the help of local botanists.