Category: Point of InterestPage 5 of 16

Places of interest around the Gardens

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…

Coffee (coffea Arabica)

  Coffee Coffea Arabica Family: Rubiaceae Description First introduced to Europe in 1583, the Arabica coffee tree, which grows to nearly 30 feet high, produces a crop of…

Impressions of a workshop: New model systems for early land plant evolution, 22 – 24 June 2016, Vienna, Austria

A couple of weeks ago I spent a few days in Vienna, my first visit in 11 years, when I was last over for the 2005 XVII International…

Capturing Genes from Herbaria. XI. Some metagenomics of a herbarium specimen

As part of our hybrid capture project, we sampled from an Inga umbellifera specimen that was collected about 180 years ago, by Andrew Mathews, in Peru in 1835….

John Anthony’s photo album – commemorating the Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme commenced at 7:30am on the 1st July 1916, an offensive lasting for 141 days of blood, mud and horror. The first day stands…

The complex thalloid liverwort Aitchisoniella, and its place in the tree of life

The genus Aitchisoniella contains a single species, A. himalayensis, which was described by Pakistani botanist Professor Shiv Ram Kashyap from plants that he collected in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India…

Inverleith House poster exhibition begins 30th anniversary celebrations

Inverleith House is celebrating three decades of contemporary art and botanical exhibitions at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh with a presentation of rarely seen posters and invitation cards…

Restored footbridge makes a grand impression at Dawyck Botanic Garden

One of the finest assets of Dawyck Botanic Garden is the Scrape burn; it runs through the centre of the garden as it meanders its way to join…

What exactly is a lichen?

Lichens are extraordinary organisms. Easily overlooked, and often un-noticed by many people, lichens colonise trees and many other surfaces (walls, pavements, railings) in our urban areas. Did you…

In plain sight – the mosses that grow on British walls

Plant diversity does not have to be far-flung and exotic to be worth studying; even within Scotland, there are unanswered questions about plant distributions. Growing in our towns and…

30 Years of Inverleith House: Contemporary Art and the Gardens

Inverleith House As Inverleith House celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, we have been looking back into our own exhibitions archive and beyond when the house was the…

In memory of Private Arthur Henry Jones (c.1882-1916)

In 1916, RBGE lost two members of staff in France during the First World War. The first was George Blackmore who was killed in the trenches of the…

#myurbanlichen

Just one of the amazing things about lichens is… You don’t have to go to a tropical rainforest, the Caledonian Forest or the far west coast of Scotland…

Lichens & Air Pollution

Outdoor Air pollution Air pollution is a huge global environmental health issue, as recognised by the World Health Organisation.  The air quality in Scotland is generally very good,…

Lichens – Making the Invisible Visible – An Air Pollution Survey

The idea formed quite early on in my TCV Natural Talent Traineeship based at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh  to develop a specific tool kit to help people…

There’s more to Marchantia than there used to be! An introduction to the new additions

One of the most recognisable groups in the bryophytes, the complex thalloid liverwort genus Marchantia, has just become a bit larger. We have sunk Preissia and Bucegia into…