Banknotes should depict flora and fungi, not just animals | Letters

The Bank of England has got an opportunity to bring these vital species into the spotlight, says Nicola Hutchinson

Your article on the Bank of England’s plans to feature nature on future banknotes (‘A toad is a perfect tenner’: experts recommend wild candidates for new banknotes, 21 March) underlines how deeply the natural world shapes our national identity. Yet it was striking that in the suggested wild candidates for the notes, one of nature’s most fundamental elements was overlooked.

If this exercise is truly about “representing the underdog”, then plants and fungi are the most obvious omission. They underpin all life but continue to be sidelined – a reminder of how easily we ignore the very foundations of the natural world.