Tag: herbariumPage 6 of 7

Capturing Genes from Herbaria. V. Fragmenting the DNA

The mantra for many years for next generation sequencing has been, like “garbage in, garbage out”, that the optimal starting point is high quality, high molecular weight DNA….

Capturing Genes from Herbaria. IV. DNA

In March this year, having already chosen and obtained the plant material that we were going to use for our NBAF project on using a hybrid bait protocol…

Capturing Genes from Herbaria. III. The Samples.

Having chosen Inga umbellifera as the study organism for our NBAF-funded project to test the use of hybrid baits for recovery of DNA sequences from herbarium material, we…

Capturing Genes from Herbaria. II. Inga.

About 300 species of Inga (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae: Ingeae) grow in lowland and montane rain forest throughout the humid tropical zone, from Mexico to Uruguay. Most species diversity is…

Capturing Genes from Herbaria. I. What it’s all about.

In February this year, Dr Catherine Kidner, Dr Michelle Hart, Dr James Nicholls and I were awarded an NBAF pilot grant by NERC to explore the use of…

New to Science 2015 – Mimulus peregrinus

The New to Science blog is a regular post about new plant species as they are being named, described and published for the first time. The only requirements…

Sutton’s vasculum of grasses and seeds

A conversation in the canteen about a 19th wheat specimen from Nepal led on to Henry Noltie asking if I had seen the amazing box of grasses. The…

The plant hunt goes on, and it’s turned digital!

George Forrest was a prolific plant hunter; it’s estimated that here in the herbarium there are around 31,000 pressed plant specimens collected by Forrest and his team of…

Natures Beloved Son – rediscovering John Muir’s botanical legacy

A new exhibition, Natures Beloved Son, featuring the herbarium and words of pioneering conservationist John Muir, opened recently in the John Hope Gateway. The plants featured were found…

In memory of Private David Hume (1888-1914)

In memory of Private David Hume, who was killed in action 100 years ago today, on the 26th August 1914, a few weeks short of his 26th birthday….

Flora of Nepal Expedition 2014

In a few days time the Flora of Nepal project are about to leave for an expedition to Mid-West of the country. Leading the expedition is Dr Colin…

Herbarium specimens collected during World War I

4th August 1914 – collections on the day that war was declared between Britain and Germany On the 4th August 1914 the tension was building during the day…

19th Century Recycling

I’ve said this before but sometimes you find amazing things when raking through the herbarium cabinets. I first came across this specimen when I was part of the…

Tea (Camellia sinensis) at the RBGE

Everyone loves a good cup of tea – as evidenced from our Assam tea bush in the Temperate Glasshouse at Edinburgh. As well as living plants at the…

Sea Flora Exhibition Talk

Join the artist of the Sea Flora exhibition, Sara Dodd and RBGE Plant Specimen Preparer, Kate Eden, for a conversation exploring the rich history of seaweed collecting in…

I love the smell of herbaria in the morning

I finally got round to visiting the two largest herbarium collections in the UK, The Natural History Museum London (NHM) and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, to work on…

Finding faster ways to enter minimal data for herbarium specimens

There are nearly 3 million specimens being held in the herbarium at RBGE. We are working to digitise these specimens to make them available to people around the…

Sparkling additions in the Molecular Lab

It’s a confusing world out there – betaine, DMSO, bovine serum albumin (BSA), trehalose, glycerol, formamide – the list of things that you can throw into a PCR…

Where the types in the herbarium at RBGE were collected

The geographical collecting locality of the types reflect both current and historical geographical areas of interest of RBGE research. Historical areas of focus are China (20%), India (8%)…

When were the type specimens in the herbarium at RBGE collected?

The oldest specimen in the herbarium at Edinburgh was collected in 1697. The oldest type specimen was collected in 1730. There have been several peaks during the time…