Author: Sally King

It’s a steal for Magnolias!

The following post was written by Chris Knowles, a digitiser working in the RBGE Herbarium. As part of my first year at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh as…

Prunus spinosa: The Blackthorn Tree of British and Irish Folklore 

The following blog post was written by Courtney Kemnitz, a Digitiser in the RBGE Herbarium. Courtney is digitising the British Isles collection. This series of blog posts will…

Digging into the details through digitisation: the poppy family

Our current programme of digitisation, funded by the RBGE Foundation, seeks to digitise 420,000 specimens from our collections leading to 1 million records (approximately one third of the…

An Update on the Flora of Myanmar Project

A collaborative effort has seen the complete digitisation of herbarium specimens of vascular plants from Myanmar, complemented by data standardisation and georeferencing.

Choose your transcription path through people and plants

The RBGE Herbarium and citizen research Since 2017 the RBGE Herbarium has enlisted the help of volunteers to undertake the transcription of collection label information from herbarium specimens….

After the crowds disperse: crowdsourced data rediscovered and researched

In this online workshop we explored the crowdsourced data cycle in cultural heritage with an emphasis on what happens to the data after a citizen research project comes to an end.

Join the expedition team exploring the Flora of Britain and Ireland for WeDigBio 2020

Join us virtually as we take part in the 2020 edition of the Worldwide Engagement for Digitising Biocollections, WeDigBio.

Workshop invitation: After the crowds disperse: crowdsourced data rediscovered and researched

***Deadline for expressions of interest extended to 30th October 17:00 UTC.*** You put your images in, your data come out – that’s what crowdsourcing’s all about! It sounds…

Join us on the first in a series of virtual expeditions of Britain and Ireland

The collections from Britain and Ireland held within the RBGE Herbarium are estimated to number over 500,000 specimens of cryptogams (algae, fungi, lichens and mosses), ferns, gymnosperms and…

To half a million specimen images and beyond!

Today we have reached a new landmark with half a million herbarium specimens imaged and freely available online on our herbarium catalogue.

Join us on a virtual expedition to Myanmar!

Come and join us on our first, of a series of specimen-based virtual expeditions across Myanmar on the citizen science platform Digivol.

The first steps towards the Flora of Myanmar

In collaboration with New York Botanic Garden, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is producing the first botanical inventory of the highly diverse Northern Forest Complex in the Hkakaborazi-Hponganrazi landscape, Myanmar. This is a first critical step towards producing a Flora of Myanmar.

Herbarium Recuration & Increasing the Resolution of South Asia

Traditionally at RBGE region 5 has included Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. At present this area contains over 400,000 specimens. Creating subdivisions within region 5 make the specimens easier to access for researchers.

Enlisting the crowd to unlock our specimen data!

The herbarium at RBGE holds around 3 million herbarium specimens. Each specimen consists of pressed plant material and a collection label mounted on archival card. They are used…

Taking digitisation to the next level for the Flora of Nepal

The Himalayan region is recognised as one of the ‘hottest’ global Biodiversity hotspots, with a third of all plant species within its range occurring in Nepal. This makes…

Meet the Valerian Family

“It’ll stink!  Tell me if you can’t stand it.  My cat adores it.”  Sweaty armpits, musty old rooms, smelly feet were all attempts at describing the smell of…

From Borneo to the Botanics: When the expedition ends, what happens to a botanist’s collection?

This Blog post was written by Olivia Nippe, a PhD intern who spent three months working in the RBGE Herbarium: The RBGE herbarium contains over 3 million pressed…

The plant hunt goes on, and it’s turned digital!

George Forrest was a prolific plant hunter; it’s estimated that here in the herbarium there are around 31,000 pressed plant specimens collected by Forrest and his team of…