Natural History Museum: Central Hall Ceiling Tiles

Friday; NatHist blip; "yada yada". I'll make no excuses: it is a beautiful place, and I'm selectively lazy...

Well, this is the main hall from the Diplodocus tail end, standing at top of the main stairs right in front of Darwin looking back towards the main entrance. The arches look like the ribs of a rib cage to me...

The ceiling tiles are a captivating but oft-overlooked feature: each one is different, and different panels portray different plants. The plants chosen are various but are all of particular significance to humans: coffee, cacoa, and tobacco are there, the foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is shown for its contribution to medicine (drugs of the digitalin family, used to treat various heart conditions), ornamental plants (like rhododendrons) and edible plants (like pears) are also shown...
They are colourful and gilded (which catches the light brilliantly); they truly are wonderful. It is amazing to think of the care and creativity that went into them; I was told that Alfred Waterhouse (the architect who designed the main building) drew the original designs for the tiles.