Category: SciencePage 1 of 23
Latest science blog posts from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The collections from Britain and Ireland held within the RBGE Herbarium are estimated to number over 500,000 specimens of cryptogams (algae, fungi, lichens and mosses), ferns, gymnosperms and…
Rediscovering a fifty-year old article prompted us to explore RBGE’s last half-century at the forefront of science, conservation, horticulture and learning. 2020 will inevitably go down in history…
Anna Stoane is a Multidisciplinary Textiles Designer who recently graduated from Edinburgh College of Art. Anna’s graduate collection The Hidden Kingdom was inspired by ten species of fungi…
Henry J. Noltie In 1805 the German botanical missionary the Rev Dr Johann Peter Rottler (1749–1836) intended to name a monospecific genus for Elizabeth, Lady Gwillim (1763–1807), wife…
In a book chapter on Indian sculpture in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland (NMS), I recently came across the names of two collectors (and indirect…
Maerl beds are one of the world’s most biodiverse habitats – but most people haven’t even heard of them! Maerl, a free-living red seaweed with a hard calcium…
In March 2020, RBGE was due to host ‘Closing the Loop’ in partnership with Applied Arts Scotland – a workshop for makers exploring environmentally sustainable approaches to materials and making, to complement the Think Plastic exhibition in the John Hope Gateway. However, the temporary closure of the Garden, due to COVID-19, shifted this workshop into the virtual realm. The title of this discursive workshop ‘Closing the Loop’ drew on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s concept of circular economies, as described by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
More than half of the tropics are too dry to support moist forest and are instead home to dry forest and savanna. Today RBGE has led the publication of a new protocol for permanent forest plots in dry forests.
H.J. Noltie Introduction While researching the life of John Hope a decade ago I went through the RBGE copies of his personal papers that have fortunately survived in…
The oldest specimens in the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was collected in 1697, a little over 320 years ago. It was collected by Alexander Brown…
Most people’s idea of discovering a new plant species for science is a botanist rounding a corner in a remote part of the world and spotting an unusual…
A series of posts from our volunteers … Diana Wilkinson I’m Diana, a former civil servant who worked as a social scientist in the Scottish Government, finally retiring…
A series of posts from our volunteers … Laura Gunstensen – Library Volunteer The ‘Botanics’ have always been a very special place for me since I arrived, fresh…
Henry Noltie Some years ago, as part of the barter economy, I acquired a handsome, but all but empty, early nineteenth-century album, its calf spine lettered in gilt…
A series of posts from our volunteers … Helen Bennett A period of secondment from Scottish Arts Council in 2006 confirmed my ambition to volunteer with Royal Botanic…
A series of posts from our volunteers … Jane Gardner My name is Jane Gardner and I am retired. I have lived in Edinburgh for nearly six years…
A series of posts from our volunteers … Brenda White – A Photography Volunteer Long ago, when the world was simple, and taking photos involved no more effort…
A series of posts from our volunteers … Simon Muirhead – Trawling through the Archive For some years I have been a member of EDFAS [Edinburgh Decorative and…
Henry Noltie Introduction In 1823 Robert Brown published an account of the plants collected on Melville Island in the Canadian Arctic during the first voyage (1819–20) commanded by…
A series of posts from our volunteers … Peter Middleton I’m a retired journalist, cum corporate communications director. Ok, so I was a sort-of spin doctor working for…