Tag: Begonia
The sharing of plants between botanic gardens has long been an essential tool in the cultivation and display of the world’s rare and threatened flora. The plants generously…
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…
When we’re working out a protocol or troubleshooting, we spend a lot of time quantifying small quantities of fluids, looking at DNA concentrations on the DeNovix, running tapes…
When we made our Begonia libraries, working with (in some cases) relatively small quantities of very degraded DNA, we should have diluted the adaptors. We didn’t. Consequently, we…
For one of the taxa in our study set, Begonia scottii (living collection no. 20170076), we made a few replicate DNA extractions using Qiagen DNeasy plant mini-kits, and…
The set of DNA extractions from one of our test plants (#8, Begonia stictopoda RBGE accession 20170115) contained rather low concentrations of DNA. We decided against preparing NGS…
Keen to see the effects of different specimen preservation techniques on DNA quantity and quality, we have assessed extractions of DNA from nine Begonia accessions x seven preservation…
In order to look at the effects of herbarium preservation methods on DNA quality, Hannah Wilson and Mark Hughes took a trip down to our research glasshouses, and…
The megadiverse genus Begonia L. is one of the world’s largest plant genera, comprising over 1,800 species, an estimated 200 of which are endemic to New Guinea. A…
When working out new protocols, it’s very useful to have a big stash of DNA to test them on. Just now, in a collaborative project with Dr Michelle…
Borneo lies at the heart of Southeast Asia, and has some of the most diverse equatorial rainforest in the world. However a considerable portion of this diversity remains…
Following the recent fieldwork update from Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park, this report comes from the Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve, part of complex of volcanoes in the Bolaang…
One week into the North Sulawesi (Indonesia) expedition, the team has successfully completed collecting at the first locality, Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park. The park is accessed by…
We are currently hosting an exhibition ‘New for Old’ which presents the outcomes of craft exchange and collaboration between eight Thai craft makers, and four Scottish craft makers…
It might come as a surprise to learn that the discovery of species new to science is a regular occurance for scientists exploring plant diversity. At the Botanics…
Not just a new species, but a new section, Begonia section Oligandrae, which is endemic to the highlands of New Guinea and comprises five species. This section provides…
The two entrance borders to the Palm House were filled with the tuberous Begonia ‘Non Stop Yellow’ in May….