Category: Point of InterestPage 4 of 16

Places of interest around the Gardens

Estates Update 2016/2017

The Estates Department as part of the Corporate Services Division, plans its works around the standard accounting financial year from 1st April to 31st March, and at this…

Building on building mosses, a return to Schistidium in the built environment

Monday 27th March was the start of a month-long visit to RBGE by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics‘s Dr Wolfgang Hofbauer, funded by the EU Synthesys Access…

In memory of Private Thomas Aird (1878-1917) and Private Thomas Young

When war began in August 1914, whilst most of RBGE’s male staff were joining the Royal Scots and the Cameron Highlanders, two of our staff members enlisted in…

John Richard Ferisy; “old soldier he”

In researching those past members of RBGE staff who enlisted and were killed during the First World War I’m aware of all those who enlisted and survived the…

William Brand WS – First Treasurer of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh

The Library at the Botanics has recently acquired a new member of staff – or should that be an old member of staff?  Certainly an old member of…

DNA identification of Long’s Long’s Marchantia

Many new species are already included in natural history collections around the world, it’s just that nobody has yet got around to examining the material, recognising that it represents something…

Elephants foot yam ( Arid house)

  Elephant’s foot yam Family: Dioscoreaceae Description Elephant’s foot yam is a spectacular shrubby climber, which grows up to 1.5m high. It has a huge tuber reaching a…

Telaranea murphyae: The non-native endemic that wasn’t

Murphy’s threadwort (Telaranea murphyae) has had a singular position in the British flora. The species was described by renowned bryologist Jean Paton in 1965, from plants collected in…

Solandra grandiflora ( Chalice flower) temperate walkway in glasshouses

Chalice Flower Solandra grandiflora  Family:Solanaceae  Description: This perennial liana (climbing vine) grows rapidly, reaching up to 30 metres in its natural setting. It climbs up into forest trees…

Final Weeks of I still believe in miracles.

“Imagine the Venice Biennale co-curated by Henri Matisse and Robert Rauschenberg in a neo-Palladian villa and you have an idea of the improbable loveliness of I Still Believe…

Medicinal Properties of Trees

Evidence from Egyptian pharaonic pharmacology papyri, shows that medicines made from white willow and other salicylate-rich plants, were used as early as the second millennium BC. Aspirin use…

Autumn Screening: Corin Sworn & Tony Romano, The Coat

Join us for a screening of Corin Sworn and Tony Romano’s new film, ‘The Coat’ (2016, HD video, 58 mins), as part of Inverleith House’s 30th anniversary celebrations….

Elements of Botany at Inverleith House

Celebrating the first exhibition in the programme and Inverleith House’s commitment to the presentation of contemporary and botanical art, two rooms within I still believe in miracles are…

Birthday Celebrations at Inverleith House

Open for over a month already, I still believe in miracles celebrates the originality and significance of Inverleith House’s programme over the past 30 years, featuring works by…

Student projects at RBGE: Barcoding British Liverworts: Metzgeria

University of Edinburgh/RBGE student Kimberley Fackler, studying for the Masters degree in the Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants; thesis submitted August 2013. Supervisors: David Bell, Dr David Long…

Student projects at RBGE: Barcoding British Liverworts: Plagiochila (Dumort.) Dumort.

University of Edinburgh/RBGE student Lucy Reed, studying for the Masters degree in the Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants; thesis submitted August 2011. Supervisors: Dr David Long, Dr Michelle…

Student projects at RBGE: DNA barcoding British liverworts: Lophocolea

University of Edinburgh Biotechnology student Kenneth McKinlay’s 4th year honours project, 2013. Supervisors: Dr David Long, Dr Laura Forrest Kenneth barcoded all six species of British Lophocolea, L….

A rapid phylogeny of Marchantia, from the RBGE collections. I. Sampling

Not long ago, the only non-crop plant that the mainstream scientific community seemed to be aware of was the brassica Arabidopsis thaliana – easily cultivated, with a short…

Schistidium caps an old wooden fence

Recently in Kufstein, the home of Austrian bryologist Wolfgang Hofbauer, the demolition of an attractive old building and clearing of trees and other plants from the land, leaving…