A recently published nomenclatural paper in the Nordic Journal of Botany looks like a precursor for the tranfer of Pulsatilla (Pasque Flowers) as a genus to a section…
It has now been over 4 months since we returned to Edinburgh after the successful botancial exploration of Baglung, Rukum and Dolpa districts for the Flora of Nepal…
We all know this plant too well from colonising river banks, cycle paths and becoming an increasing problem in as an invasive plant in the UK. Its native…
As the first Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) begin to flower in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s World War One commemoration field we are currently being treated to a mass…
I’ve said this before but sometimes you find amazing things when raking through the herbarium cabinets. I first came across this specimen when I was part of the…
Born on the 24th of April 1851 in Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He was educated at the Grammar School, King’s College and Marischal College, Aberdeen, and later attended…
I have a fair interest in Rhododendron because the are such a ubiquitous Scottish garden plant, but at Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh we have a world class collection…
In biogeographic circles everyone likes a good line and no I’m not talking about illicit substance abuse. Biogeographers draw lines on maps to divide geographic area and to…
When working through endless spreadsheets of data occasionally something jumps out because it looks odd. Scanning down the list of living Clematis at RBGE the accession number 19021013 set…
As part of a PhD programme in the School of Biological Sciences at Edinburgh University students are expected to create and present a poster at the end of their 2nd…
The Sabal Palm (Sabal bermudana) is frequently mentioned as being the oldest plant in our collection at about 200 years old. A couple of years ago while researching…
I finally got round to visiting the two largest herbarium collections in the UK, The Natural History Museum London (NHM) and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, to work on…
George Don spent much of his life exploring the corries and glens of Angus and further afield to Arran, Ben Nevis and Skye. His plant collections in the…
Lepchas are indigenous peoples to Sikkim, renowned for their knowledge of and respect for nature. Several Lepcha were employed as collectors by the Calcutta Botanic Garden. Rhomoo Lepcha…