A new science strategy at Kew Gardens includes an annual health check of plant life, digitising its vast plant and fungi collections and a new masters course.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, which saw 100 job losses last year, will release an annual report documenting the state of the world’s plants and will create an online portal with access to all its botanical information.

Dr Rhian Smith, senior science officer for education, said the masters in taxonomy - the science of defining groups of organisms - will mobilise a new generation of taxonomists who will be capable of identifying species in the laboratory and in the field.

She said: "Taxonomy is perceived as a boring subject so the challenge is to make it relevant.

"There are so many unnamed fungal species out there and we have no idea of the total number. We probably know of only 10 per cent.

"You need to find and label these species in order to be able to determine their useful properties or to conserve them."

Professor Kathy Willis, director of science, said the strategy will focus Kew’s science on ways that will make a unique impact on people’s lives, thanks to an unrivalled collection of specimens and world-leading expertise.

She said: "Our core purpose at Kew stems from a simple but often overlooked truth: that all of our lives depend on plants and fungi.

"Given the scale of the challenges we face, Kew absolutely has a responsibility to take a leading role in building momentum around the importance and relevance of botany and taxonomy in the minds of the public and decision makers."

Richard Deverell, director of Kew Gardens, said the ambitious five-year strategy would help secure the future of the site.

He said: "We have always said to staff and the public that we can’t categorically rule out any further redundancies, but the ideas we have talked through are big ideas produced by intelligent people, so I am sure we will do well in securing funding."

Mr Deverell said the outcome of the general election and the subsequent spending review will be of great importance to Kew Gardens, which depends on government schemes for about 45 per cent of its funding.

He added: "The problem we faced last year was that we had about a £5m hole in our accounts.

"There was a decline in funding and for a number of years, the Kew Foundation had been handing over more money than it could sustain."