Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

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 million specimens imaged by Autumn...

Towards 3 million: Fabulous fungi found in peculiar places - Chris Knowles shares some of the more fearsome examples in our collections in this post on our blog, #BotanicsStories: stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/41083

Glen Affric playing key role in recovery of Britain's rarest fern The oblong woodsia was almost wiped out after being prized by Victorian collectors.

#ScottishPlantRecovery in the news! Find out about our work to restore populations of Britain's rarest fern at #GlenAffric with Forestry & Land Scotland: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Britain's 'rarest fern' replanted in Scots beauty spot in bid to restore species Staff from Forestry and Land Scotland have translocated and planted 250 specimens of oblong woodsia

Check out this STV News article featuring some of the work carried out by RBGE's Scottish Plant Recovery team to restore one of Britain's rarest ferns, Woodsia ilvensis (Oblong woodsia) 🪴

The article focuses on Glen Affric and our collaboration with FLS 🙌💚

news.stv.tv/highlands-is...

A room full of people sitting at tables, discussing and working together

Prof Mat Williams speaking in front of a slide about conservation practices

Our annual Science Day - a vibrant exploration of everything from data to ethics, theories of change to consultancy, taxonomy to restoration. Thanks to CSA Prof Mat Williams for a keynote that really put our work into context, and all our teams for their hard work and enthusiasm! #biodiversity

Grass bank with crocuses and trees

Crocuses @thebotanics.bsky.social

@thebotanics.bsky.social is seeking a highly organised and detail-focused individual to join their small, efficient team in a key administrative role as Development Coordinator tinyurl.com/5f9tha8e £25,424 pro-rata Edinburgh #charityjob

NEW COORDINATING EDITOR: We are pleased to welcome Dr. Mark Hughes, @thebotanics.bsky.social, to our editorial board! Mark will contribute his expertise to develop NJB's #taxonomy section. Photo credit: RGBE.
vist.ly/4nrvk
#begonia #biodiversity #biogeography #phylogenomics

UPDATE: Tours are now sold out.

Thank you for your interest -we’ve had exceptionally high demand. Please check the Eventbrite page for any returned tickets and join the waiting list for slots you’re interested in, as we’ll notify individuals if additional tickets become available.

A beautiful new species of #Elaeocarpus #Elaeocarpaceae is described from #PulneyHills #India in #OpenAccess #EJBotany @thebotanics.bsky.social by researchers from #SavitribaiPhulePuneUniversity and #ThackerayWildlifeFoundation: bit.ly/4sIvwnL

Photo of the roof of the Palm Houses at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh against a bright blue sky. Overlaid text reads: "Palm House Tours. Book now. 14 February, 14 March, 21 March, 11 April, 18 April".

Big news: join us for an exclusive tour of our newly restored Palm Houses 🌴

This is a unique chance to experience these magnificent buildings as replanting begins and before they reopen to the public.

Book here: rbge.cc/palm-house-t...

Group of students and staff looking at plants close up at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

HIRING: LECTURER. We’re looking for an engaging lecturer to join our undergraduate horticultural programmes 🌿

Find the full job description for this wide-ranging role, and apply by midday on Thursday 22 January: rbge.cc/jobs

A tree fern being planted in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's Palm Houses.

A tree fern being planted in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's Palm Houses.

We're pleased to share that replanting of our Palm Houses is officially underway 🥳

This tree fern, a Dicksonia blumei, is the first to return home.

It's time to make a house a home 🌴

Photo of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from above, with the text "Join our team. Director of Horticulture".

📢 Huge opportunity - we're recruiting for an exceptional leader to become our Director of Horticulture.

This pivotal role will be responsible for the oversight of one of the world’s most significant plant collections.

Could this be you? Find full details and apply by 5 January 2026: rbge.cc/Jobs

Christmas decorations made from recycled paper: Christmas tree, snowflakes, ribbons, stars, candy canes, stockings, and gingerbread people

Staff, students & volunteers enjoyed a day in the Library & Archives making festive decorations from recycled paper @thebotanics.bsky.social @cilip.bsky.social #GreenLibraries #LoveLibraries

🌱 Find our more about our work and support our mission to protect Scotland’s most threatened species: rbge.cc/protecting-p...

🥳 GOOD NEWS FOR NATURE: this is the extremely rare alpine blue-sowthistle thriving in the wild.

The endangered plant had only four populations left in Scotland. But thanks to our restoration efforts, 1,200 individual plants have now been reintroduced.

Horticulturist Pablo explains more.

Photo of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from above, with the text "Join our team. Director of Horticulture".

📢 Huge opportunity - we're recruiting for an exceptional leader to become our Director of Horticulture.

This pivotal role will be responsible for the oversight of one of the world’s most significant plant collections.

Could this be you? Find full details and apply by 5 January 2026: rbge.cc/Jobs

A group of people stand in the dark with beams of blue light criss crossing the scene.

Lines of green neon light run up a tree trunk into the branches.

Two figures walk down a path with a bright crimson pattern projected onto it, with illuminated trees lit purple in the distance.

Lines of bright light run across the ground and up a tree in the darkness, with a group of people looking on.

🎅 Congratulations to our friends and @asrainforest.bsky.social partners @thebotanics.bsky.social on another magical Christmas light show.🎄

So much more relaxed than all the malarkey going on in the city centre. And the hot chocolate is better too!😋

📸 Pics by George Anderson

Thank you so much for visiting and for your kind words!! Any fave installations?🌲🎄

Heads Up: 32 events to catch this Christmas & Hogmanay - The Skinny Our pick of the markets, light shows, screenings, pantomimes, clubs and gigs across Scotland that are sure to bring you cheer this festive season.

It's that ti-

*Don't say it...*

It's beginning to look a lot like Chri-

*Like what?*

WE'VEGOTANXMASGUIDEOUTNEXTWEEKHERE'STHEEVENTSGUIDE [dodges hail of mince pies]

www.theskinny.co.uk/things-to-do... [ft @trontheatre.bsky.social @thebotanics.bsky.social @lyceumedinburgh.bsky.social + more]

Section of a leather boot with various types of lichen on its surface.

One of the more unusual items in our herbarium collection! This old leather boot is home to several types of lichen 🥾

It was collected on a beach in 1975 by Brian J Coppins in Ballantrae, Scotland.

Read more on the weird and wonderful specimen here: stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/40742

During our final networking session Gregory Kenicer, botanist from @thebotanics.bsky.social, told us about the food we've been eating today and highlighted the community kitchen garden which supplies 1 1/2 tonnes of produce for the garden's cafes.

#FoodSecurity25

New #GBRedList for vascular plants is published today by a team led by @bsbibotany.bsky.social with partners @naturalengland.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social @natreswales.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social @plantlifeintl.bsky.social @rbgkew.bsky.social @thebotanics.bsky.social

Botanical illustration of the black bat flower (Tacca chantrieri) by Billy Showell.

Botanical illustration of the black bat flower (Tacca chantrieri) by Eve Reid Bennett.

Botanical illustration of a bat by Mungo Park.

Botanical illustration of a devil's pumpkin in a copy of an illustration from Cavanille’s “Monadelphiae classis dissertationes decem. Diss. 10: De Passiflora”.

Celebrating spooky season with botanical art 🎨 🎃

- The black bat flower (Tacca chantrieri) by Billy Showell, and Eve Reid Bennett (1932-2006) who taught botanical illustration at the Garden for many years.
- Bat by Mungo Park (1771-1806)
- Devil's pumpkin by an unknown artist

Real pleasure to be invited to speak at the British Pteridological Society meeting today.
Brilliant mix of talks spanning evolution, conservation and botanical collections.
And always great to have a tour of the wonderful @thebotanics.bsky.social collections! 🌿

Evaluation Lead – Learning & Engagement @thebotanics.bsky.social is seeking an experienced evaluator to consolidate existing data, identify gaps, and collaborate with their teams to build clear, user-friendly systems for future evaluation tinyurl.com/376tyas5 £45,712 pro-rata Edinburgh #charityjob

Person wearing purple gloves handles a fungarium specimen

Could fungi help us tackle plastic pollution, protect crops, and discover life-saving medicines? 🍄🧬

New Scientist has just spotlighted Kew’s cutting-edge fungal research - from unravelling DNA in our world-leading Fungarium to finding fungi that can digest plastic and fight disease 🧵👇

Huge news from the Edinburgh Journal of Botany - its entire archive is now freely available online! 🥳

This moment has been years in the making. Explore more than a century's worth of scientific research 👇

Marking 125 years of #EJBotany #OpenAccess and its forerunner, Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, we are delighted to announce that ALL content is now freely available at journals.rbge.org.uk/notes and journals.rbge.org.uk/ejb

Early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions: 2025 Apply for funding to conduct research at participating cultural and heritage institutions.

🌿 Fellowship opportunity: the AHRC Early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions are open!

From connections between biodiversity and social inclusion, to cultural contexts of plants in our collections, find our priorities and how to apply here 👇 www.ukri.org/opportunity/...