Author: Henry NoltiePage 6 of 7
66. Persicaria affinis (D. Don) Ronse Decraene POLYGONACEAE According to Joseph Hooker, who explored Sikkim in 1848/9, this plant was ‘one of the most beautiful features of the…
67. Geranium himalayense Klotzsch GERANIACEAE A popular garden plant, with several cultivars, which forms carpets by means of creeping rhizomes. Its large flowers are produced over a long period…
68. Iris clarkei J.D. Hooker An iris of the Sibericae group, in which the drooping, outer petals (which are known as the ‘falls’) are smooth and beardless. It…
69. Roscoea auriculata K. Schumann ZINGIBERACEAE Roscoea is one of the few hardy genera of the largely tropical ginger family. It was named by James Edward Smith after…
70. Betula utilis D. Don var. jacquemontii (Spach) Winkler BETULACEAE Himalayan silver birch, Jacquemont’s birch; Hindi: bhojpattra, भोजपत्र The specific name of this tree refers to its usefulness….
India does not spring immediately to mind as a major source of plants for British gardens. The reason for this is largely environmental – as the larger part…
In previous Botanics Stories I have written about the joys of Herbarium Angling, but fusty old botanists do occasionally emerge into the glare of daylight and take a…
One of the most historically important plants in RBGE is currently in flower in the Woodland Garden, immediately to the west of the old sweet chestnut tree opposite…
Surely one of the most moving thanks ever penned for an act of botanical patronage was that written by Archibald Menzies from his surgeon’s post on HMS Assistance,…
Walking home though the garden recently, after a hard day in the herbarium, my eye alighted on a small tree that I must have passed many thousands of…
On 23 July a show entitled ‘I still believe in miracles’ will open in Inverleith House. It is a retrospective of the exhibitions of contemporary art, and of…
Nordic ‘alimentation noire’: a culinary experiment, RBGE Canteen, 29 June 2016 (a continuation of Franklin Arctic Canadian Collections at RBGE – Part 1). What did the ‘tripe de…
The story and fate of the fourth of Sir John Franklin’s expeditions in search of the North-West Passage, on the ships Erebus and Terror in 1845–8, is well…
In the past I have written about botanical ‘swagger prints’ – large-format illustrations commissioned at least in part to boost the ego of the commissioner. At RBGE (from…
The most glowing review of Cleghorn’s (frankly rather dull – his father uncharitably told him that it would ‘drive all other soporifics out of fashion’) 1861 Forests &…
Behind many of the books in the RBGE library lie interesting stories or provenances. One that has come to light during research for a new biography of the…
Two new books are shortly to be published by RBGE about one of the Garden’s most significant, but forgotten, benefactors – Hugh Cleghorn of Stravithie (1820–1895). Some of…
Looking into the cabinets of the RBGE herbarium never fails to turn up a surprise. Today I was looking for specimens that might have come from the almost…
A new RBGE publication documents, and pays belated tribute, to a pair of intrepid and enterprising botanists. The latest in a series of studies by Henry Noltie on…
There is so much in the news about loss of biodiversity, and species going extinct, that it is pleasant to be able to report a contrary piece of…