Author: Max ColemanPage 7 of 10
The Sapotaceae plant family provides us with some wonderful examples of the sometimes intricate interactions plants have with animals. One of the more intriguing cases is that of…
As 2015 draws to a close we end the third growing season for the Really Wild Veg project. The aim of the project is to explore how domestication…
The idea that a story about a male yew tree producing a female branch would go viral and attract massive media attention would have seemed highly unlikely a…
The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is a tree of international renown as potentially the oldest individual tree in Europe. It has been suggested that it could be as…
During the summer of 2015 the Botanics had a major focus on bees with the Urban bees exhibition in the John Hope Gateway and various pollinator-friendly initiatives in…
The wet summer may not have been much fun, but our celery has been loving it. One of the real challenges with growing celery on well-drained soils is…
Over a 24 hour period from 5pm on the 24th July 2015 naturalists and the public joined forces to record as much wildlife as possible at Dawyck Botanic…
A recent case of severe skin burns in a 10 year old caused by exposure to the sap of giant hogweed is a reminder that plants can be…
One of the difficulties with studying the wild ancestors of domesticated food plants is knowing if plants are truely wild? Domesticated plants will generally inter-breed quite happily with…
New Reekie is still drawing a crowd even though it is now begining to look past its best. Today (30th June 2015) the skirt-like spathe that wraps around…
On Monday 29th June New Reekie is still looking good on the third day of flowering so there is time to introduce some of the family that you…
The first flowering in Scotland of the world’s largest “flower” is something to celebrate. So what better tipple than the wine produced by the decendants of the plants…
A small army of staff and volunteers, dubbed the ‘Titan Arum Army’, is sweltering alongside New Reekie to help explain this extraordinary tropical plant to visitors. However, heat…
Being the largest flower head is one of the titan arum’s claims to fame. The Guinness World Record height for this species is an impressive 3.1 metres, so…
Summer 2015 will see an exciting botanical first for Scotland when the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) flowers at the Botanics. This native of the Sumatran rainforest has been…
The New to Science blog is a regular post about new plant species as they are being named, described and published for the first time. The only requirements…
Finally the weather is warming up and seed sowing for the 2015 set of Really Wild Veg trials is now complete. This project, now in its third season,…
An internet search for Sutherland kale produces quite a lot of hits. This leafy brassica seems to be a bit of a sensation among foody types looking for…
It might come as a surprise to learn that the discovery of species new to science is a regular occurance for scientists exploring plant diversity. At the Botanics…
Watching bees visitng flowers is something to look forward to in the run up to spring. Their choices are far from random and they will specialise in whatever…