IT is hard to believe whilst wandering through the lush gardens at Kew innocently admiring the trees, plants and flowers that there is major scientific work being carried out behind the scenes.

The work of a botanist who identified plant fragments in the intestine of the torso of a little boy found in the Thames in 2001; the discovery of a cancer drug, Taxol, in the yew tree, which is now administered to patients; the finding of anti-HIV properties in plants in Africa, the potential of compounds from salvia species to inhibit destructive enzymes associated with Alzheimer's disease, are just some of the crucial breakthroughs made by Kew scientists.

The Jodrell Laboratory, based at the gardens, is home to around 200 science staff and 75 affiliated researchers who generated 385 papers and books last year.

The scientists at the lab seek new uses for plants in areas ranging from sustainable production of fuel wood to pharmaceuticals.

Monique Simmonds started working with the scientists at Kew studying plants and insect interaction.

She was soon offered a job and since then has developed a group which is involved in studying biological interactions between plants and animals, she has also expanded a lot of work on drug development and been involved in projects looking at rural plants in different communities.

At a relatively simple level one of Monique's tasks is to look at why insects destroy some plants and not others, what makes them susceptible, their defence strategy such as furry leaves or if they contain a smelly compound.

This could then lead to the discovery of properties that help humans defend themselves against certain illnesses.

Cancer and TB are big priorities at the moment. "We got the drug Taxol from the yew tree. One thing people may not know is that 80 per cent of drugs prescribed today for chemotherapy derive from natural resources - bacteria, fungi or plants," Monique tells me.

"It takes 15 to 20 years before they are available because it takes that time to get through the clinical trials. The role of plant potential is really significant. It is important we do more work to justify conservation of plants, it is wrong that we are losing plants, we need to have the resources to see if these plants do work, there is a lot to get through.

"We are focusing on cancer and TB. If you go back to the 14th or 15th century before TV was around, people used plants all over the world to treat TB. Not always effectively but definitely some effectively, a small number of species. Hardly any of these plants have been tested using modern advances in medicine for TB. We have collected information and hope to get more testing done this year."

Recently Monique and her team discovered plants in Africa that had anti HIV properties in them, which could help the country combat the growing problem of Aids.

Plants used to boost the immune system or containing anti-viral materials were traditionally grown in Africa and scientists are now looking at ways to help the communities select and grow the correct species.

Monique says: "This is a new use for these plants. Some of these plants can be used in communities that don't have access to more sophisticated drugs. It is not going to cure HIV but it will decrease the spread of the virus, therefore prolonging life."

In their hunt for the potential that plants, fungus and bacteria have in the fight against disease, scientists at the laboratory do not deal with genetically modified species. However, Monique believes that more research needs to be done on GM crops if it involves a decrease in the use of pesticides.

"It is a shame people have become so alarmist when it can provide food for parts of the world where it is difficult to produce food," Monique says. "There should be more transparency but if we could all stop using pesticides then it should be looked into."

Climate change is another factor that could affect the way research is carried out and projects monitoring changes in plants to see which ones may not exist as the environment transforms are taking place.

Samples are sent to Kew by scientists who have grown plants in glass houses in the environment to which they could eventually be susceptible. There is a need to know what will happen to our plants and how this is going to be dealt with.

Monique feels strongly that everyone can help in the battle to find life changing cures and she is forever highlighting the importance of natural resources.

The team is interested in finding out how the people in the Amazon and tribes in Africa deal with certain diseases, which could provide vital information for this country, as they don't have a health service to rely on and most remedies are based on herbs.

In Britain when the NHS was introduced after the Second World War, people were discouraged by herbal drugs and modern drugs were made widespread.

But Monique wants to get back to basics and find out what can be done on a natural level to help combat all types of illnesses.

"Modern drugs have been fantastic but not been the magic cure. A mixture is important, like our diets," Monique explains. "We have got a lot less diversity in our diet. It has been replaced with the beefburger scenario. The bread we eat now is very different from the wheat bread back then. We are exposed to a lot of things we weren't exposed to before.

"We want to know how people treated their cancers, colds and warts. If they had a sore throat, what did people do?

"If people get stung by a stinging nettle in Britain they use a dock leaf, but if they got stung by a stinging nettle in France they wouldn't use a dock leaf.

"If people use honey and whisky, what type of honey do they use?"

Popeye may have had the right idea eating his daily intake of spinach, which is said to contain herbal properties. All these types of cures that people dismiss as old wives' tales could be more important than we think.

Does Monique think that the use of cannabis for sufferers of MS or the like should be looked into?

"I hope they are able to do more research. A lot of data indicates that it has medicinal properties but it has got to be regulated.

"It is known to have an adverse effect so it should be in the same category as methadone, given to people with acute pain on prescription so you can monitor the effects.

"People have got to be careful when they start taking any combination as they will get a reaction and an adverse response.

"We deal with enquiries from hospital when people get adverse reactions. Sometimes doctors are not fully aware as they are not taught about plants so much. More doctors want to know now. People want to have a more holistic approach."

Monique adds: "Chinese medicine has been around since 1550BC, which is a lot longer than our western medicines, so there must be something in it.

"We are looking at old, traditional and modern day species. We need to identify how little we know, about how else they can be used and how they work. It is a big programme on British plants and their medicinal properties."

Readers are urged to contact the laboratory with any weird, wonderful or even average ways they go about curing their ailments.