A beautiful post from Becca of our #ScottishPlantRecovery programme, sharing the highs and lows of saving Scotland's threatened plans: stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/41119. Don't worry, this isn't the end! Thanks to @naturescot.bsky.social #NatureRecoveryFund there is much more to come...
Wonderful! 🌿🐝
Photos from yesterday's wander round Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens (@thebotanics.bsky.social) now on my blog craftygreenpoet.blogspot.com/2026/04/spri...
Turquoise Hellwigia opalina plant.
Group of people in a mountainous setting on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
🌿 NEW SPECIES TO SCIENCE: This rare turquoise “jade ginger” has been officially named Hellwigia opalina.
The story began 26 years ago on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (pictured in 2000), where the unusual plant was spotted.
Read more: rbge.cc/jade-ginger
@axelginger.bsky.social
Rare turquoise gem #ginger #plant species described in @phytokeys.pensoft.net
See: doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.272.171221
Long-term collaboration between @thebotanics.bsky.social and Indonesian botanical institutions resulted in the discovery of #Hellwigia opalina only found in #Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Last week, RBGE's #ScottishPlantRecovery team completed their final translocation of the project by planting out 420 Saxifraga hirculus (Yellow Marsh Saxifrage) up in Aberdeenshire.
We want to give a massive thank you to all the support we have received over the last 3 years! 🫶💚
Brilliant to welcome @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social to the Botanics today, for wide-ranging discussions including Scottish plant restoration, horticultural use of peat, and climate and biodiversity finance - lots of areas of shared interest to think about moving forward.
Graphical abstract with photographs showing steps in HMW DNA extraction
Sharing a paper from earlier this year based on joint work by Botanics' science and horticulture teams - a new method for extracting high molecular weight DNA: doi.org/10.5511/plan...
An important paper out today in @commsbio.nature.com, led by the Botanics' Wu Huang, quantifies the genomic differences between plant species, a foundation for improving approaches to discriminating between species using their DNA: www.nature.com/articles/s42... #DNA-barcoding
What makes a Good City? Delighted to share preliminary findings from our project exploring young people's experiences of urban nature, with recommendations for #NatureNetworks in #Edinburgh and beyond. With thanks to all who supported and took part. Read the preprint here: zenodo.org/records/1919...
Towards 3 million: Cornaceae - read the latest #BotanicsStories post on our digitisation progress. stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/41105
Large pink flowers of Magnolia campbellii
Red rhododendron flowers
Rhododendron in flower at Edinburgh botanic gardens
Magnolia tree in flower
Magnolia and rhododendron now in bloom at @thebotanics.bsky.social – beautiful! 🩷
#springtime #edinburgh
1.5 million specimens. Eight weeks. One reorganised herbarium!
Thanks to a wonderful team of 36 staff, students, and volunteers, we’ve completed the transition of our herbarium to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG IV) classification.
Here's a glimpse into the process 💪
Common Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) growing profusely across the ground. Also some patches of Bonfire Moss (Funaria hygrometrica) and other plants.
Lovely patch of Common Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) and Bonfire Moss (Funaria hygrometrica) in Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Gardens (@thebotanics.bsky.social)
We are delighted to announce we have joined the #IllegalPlantTradeCoalition as an Action Partner. We bring strong scientific horticultural expertise in species at risk from illegal trade, such as Aloes and other succulents. We look forward to working in partnership to protect plants in trade. #BGCI
RBGE's recent work on Cicerbita alpina, one of the species on the #ScottishPlantRecovery project features in the Spring 2026 Trifoliate newsletter on the BSBI website:
bsbi.org/media/pages/...
💜💙💜
Its beginning to look a lot like spring time at Edinburgh @thebotanics.bsky.social
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
#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...
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
