Category: Other NewsPage 1 of 51

Stories not categories under anything else

Stories from the Biomes: Return of the Giants

Over the summer of 2024, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh welcomed the return of one of the plant world’s most spectacular plants: the giant Victoria water lilies, specifically…

Postcard from the Biomes: A Blank Slate

Explore more Botanic Stories covering the Ferns and Fossils Glasshouse decant below. Stories from the Biomes: Fern House decant begins – Botanics Stories Stories from the Biomes: The…

Towards 3 Million: Hypericaceae

The following blog was written by Linde Hess a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…

The Indian botanical work of Michael Pakenham Edgeworth (1812–1881)

H.J. Noltie Introduction Michael Pakenham Edgeworth came from a cultured and distinguished Irish family. The the last of 22 children of the polyphiloprogenitive Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744–1817) by…

Towards 3 million: Orobanchaceae

The following blog was written by Rebecca Camfield a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…

William Somervell Mitchell, East India Company surgeon, and briefly Madras Naturalist

Born Lamington, 2 May 1780; died Madras, 24 November 1819 When discussing the collectors of the ‘Wallich’ Herbarium, William Somervell Mitchell was not included as his collections were…

Towards 3 million: Acanthaceae

The following blog was written by Rebecca Camfield a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…

Granny and her visitors – a specimen with ‘cult following’

There is a box in the RBGE Archives marked ‘Granny’ which usually begs the question of what’s inside? The following blog, researched and written by RBGE Garden Guide…

Why Latin names just aren’t good enough anymore

This is the second post in a series about the Taxon Name Linking Service project. The process of combining biodiversity data from multiple sources currently starts with matching…

Hunting the ghostwort – a bryological Halloween tale

Aneura mirabilis, aka the ghostwort, is a very strange liverwort indeed. And it’s not as if liverworts in general have a reputation for being the most “vanilla” of…

Towards 3 million: Linaceae

The following blog was written by Linde Hess a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…

A Not So Silent Archive

by Dr Amanda Thomson I was sitting in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Library, looking through F.R. Irvine’s archive boxes. Irvine was a botanist who was born in…

Towards 3 million: Schlegeliaceae, Martyniaceae, Byblidaceae & Stemonuraceae

The following blog was written by Rebecca Camfield a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…

Mercedes Chanek – a hidden Indigenous plant collector from Belize

Surprising is the only word. The list of important female plant collectors from Belize is pretty short. So, when someone emailed out of the blue, about an Indigenous…

Towards 3 million: Iridaceae

The following blog was written by Iain Ratter a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…

Towards 3 million: Ochnaceae, Medusagynaceae and Quiinaceae

The following blog was written by Linde Hess a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…

Towards 3 million: Proteaceae

The following blog was written by Iain Ratter a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…

A new species of shrub discovered in the dry Andean valleys of Peru and Ecuador

In the deep, isolated valleys of the Andes there are still many plants that have never been described by science. These valleys are hot and dry, despite the…

Towards 3 million: Lamiaceae

The following blog was written by Rebecca Camfield a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…

Towards 3 million: Fabulous fungi found in peculiar places

The following blog was written by Chris Knowles a digitiser in the Herbarium. Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity with the goal of getting to 1…