Category Archives: Herbarium RNG

The Palm Family: Plants with a Heart

Posted on 2017/04/05 by martincummins

The Arecaceae, better known as the palm family, is one of the world’s most iconic plant groups. Comprised of approximately 2600 species across 181 genera (Christenhusz and Byng, 2016), this is a large and diverse family, yet simultaneously one of … Continue reading →

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Orobanche hederae – Ivy Broomrape

Posted on 2016/07/12 by Alastair Culham

My last blog was on the common broomrape, Orobanche minor, the only species I had seen on campus in the past few years.  Today I was excited to receive an email from Phöbe, one of the volunteer Friends of the … Continue reading →

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Orobanche minor on Whiteknights campus

Posted on 2016/06/15 by Alastair Culham

Parasitic plants, particularly ones with large and colouful flowers, are always a cause of curiosity from the casual observer, and are generally uncommon enough to exite field botanists. For many years there were numerous flower spikes of Orobanche minor on … Continue reading →

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UK Fungus Day @UniofReading notes 3

Posted on 2015/10/25 by Alastair Culham

I’m still working through numerous photos and trying to edit them – several of today’s blog batch are those our MSc Plant Diversity (#MScPlDiv) students tried to identify the next day.  Note that not all the names scribbled on the … Continue reading →

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UK Fungus Day @UniofReading notes 2

Posted on 2015/10/22 by Alastair Culham

Here is the second gallery of fungal finds from our UK fungus day activities.  A range of both small and crust-like fungi through to large boletes.  There are part of the morning collections and a few of the afternoon foray … Continue reading →

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Hello from Alice

Posted on 2014/11/18 by

Hello, my name is Alice Nette-Thomas. I am a first-year undergraduate studying Ecology and Wildlife Conservation at Reading University. I am volunteering in the University’s Herbarium because species identification skills are something many Ecology graduates lack and I would like … Continue reading →

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Reading Science Week and the Symbiosis Project

Posted on 2014/03/15 by drmgoeswild

Reading Science Week is here! The resident exhibition, open from Saturday 15th March and all week, is the Imagining Science Symbiosis Project. A key member of the Symbiosis project is Immy Smith, an artist and a neuroscientist, with a fascination for biological and surreal … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Herbarium RNG, Lichen | Leave a comment