Category: Other NewsPage 10 of 51

Stories not categories under anything else

The East Gate Lodge & the former RCHS Experimental Garden

This elegant house was designed by renowned Scottish architect William Playfair and was completed in 1826 to provide accommodation for the Curator of the Experimental Garden of the…

The simple thalloid liverwort Aneura – a digitized resource at RBGE

The simple thalloid liverwort Aneura has become a flagship genus for DNA barcoding at RBGE. Only a single widespread species, Aneura pinguis, is traditionally recognized in the UK,…

RBGE World War One Service Roll

1914-1919 The Service Roll is different from the Roll of Honour in that it shows the names & a short statement of service of all members of staff…

RBGE’s World War One Roll of Honour

We Will Remember Them Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh Roll of Honour, 1914–1919 At the outbreak of war in August 1914 the appeal for H.M. Forces met with ready…

December 2019 Garden Wildlife Report

December 2019 at RBGE gave the impression of being somewhat dull and wet although the graphs do not bear this out. Total rainfall was 52.4 mm, most of…

To half a million specimen images and beyond!

Today we have reached a new landmark with half a million herbarium specimens imaged and freely available online on our herbarium catalogue.

The Divine Bog-moss, Sphagnum divinum, found but now lost in Scotland

A recently described moss, Sphagnum divinum, the Divine Bog-moss, has been discovered in Britain and Ireland, though the only Scottish site yet found has sadly been lost. Its taxonomic discovery has a long history, starting over 250 years ago with a French explorer in southern South America.

The untold story of an unassuming Berberis

All plants have stories. The Botanics over its 350 years has managed to create many, from intrepid tales of plant hunters to discovering plants new to science. Some…

Halfway House

Works on the Temperate Palmhouse to repair the glazing bars and replace broken glass has reached the halfway point. The North and East elevations have been completed and…

The first ever revision of the tropical tree genus Pterospermum just published!

It is great to see Dr Santhana Krishnan Ganesan’s revision of the genus Pterospermum has just been published in the Edinburgh Journal of Botany [click here]. Ganesan, from…

A particularly exquisite Rhododendron

It will be of no surprise that an attractive plant has been found in this particular genus. One in which has been so highly regarded by the garden,…

November 2019 Garden Wildlife Report

November 2019 was a pretty grim month at RBGE. It was wetter than average, with a total rainfall of 76.6 mm (155% of the long-term average). Most of…

Plant Collecting on Tay Con Linh Mountain, Vietnam

Expedition to Northern Vietnam, October 2019 Participants (UK) Richard Baines: Expedition leader and Curator of Logan Botanic Garden Will Ritchie: Curator of The National Botanic Garden of Wales…

The seeds of Dead Man’s Finger

Seeds are phenomenal structures which have adapted incredible ways to disperse. One of the of the most eye catching seed pods in the garden at this time of…

My first taxonomic revision – experiences from the Edinburgh herbarium – by Julia Wellsow

Desplatsia is a genus of small trees growing in the forests of West and Central Africa. Their fruits are rather large and adored by elephants. There was some…

How many people does it take to revise a genus?

In 1994 I was in a forest in the Central African Republic standing in front of a tree. I remember the moment well. I turned to my companion,…

#NationalTreeWeek @TheBotanics 2019 What are we planting this year?

National Tree Week marks the traditional start of the winter tree planting season. We are celebrating from the 23rd November to the 1st December. “National Tree Week is…

October 2019 Garden Wildlife Report

Yet again, October 2019 was both sunnier (117.4 hours, 117% of average) and wetter (106.2 mm, 134% of average) than an average Edinburgh October.  Like September, most of…

Celebrating Apple Season

21st October is Apple Day, an autumn holiday created by the charity Common Ground in 1990 to celebrate and protect the rich variety of apple cultivars across the…

The beautiful bemba forest

In the forests of central Africa there is an amazing species of tree. It is called Gilbertiodendron dewevrei. Fortunately, the people who live there have shorter names for…