Herbarium Specimens

• When Future Ecologies opened in the John Hope Gateway on 21 November 2020, we showcased related specimens from RBGE's Herbarium alongside the artists' films.  Unfortunately, the exhibition had to close early due to temporary lockdown restrictions, but we are delighted to be able to share the six specimens with you online now.

   

  Siphonochilus aethiopicus

  Known as Wild Ginger or Natal Ginger, the rhizomes (underground stems) of Siphonochilus aethiopicus are one of the most sought-after medicinal plants in South African ‘muthi’ markets, referred to in Uriel Orlow’s film Muthi.  According to the Red List of South African Plants, this plant is classed as Critically Endangered as it is now extinct over most of its former geographical range, with a 90% reduction over the last 100 years.  This is a cultivated specimen, grown from wild collected material in RBGE’s Living Collection.

• Aframomum sulcatum

  Aframomum sulcatum is another species in the ginger family.  This specimen was collected in the Atewa Mountains in Ghana in 1972.  Atewa Forest Reserve is one of the largest remaining intact areas of Upland Evergreen Forest in Ghana. This area is important for biodiversity conservation and is a crucial watershed, providing clean water to millions of Ghanaians.  Ghana’s forest cover has been fragmented and suffered losses due to the practices of logging, expanding agriculture and various mining activities, including gold mining. 

• Crepis mollis

  Crepis mollis is a British native plant, commonly known as Northern Hawk's-Beard.  In the paper Rare and Scarce Plants of Northumberland, published in 2017, it is categorised as locally scarce and populations are declining nationally due to the change in land management and loss of upland meadows.  It is now only found growing in six small, vulnerable sites in Northumberland.  Originally, 40 sites had been recorded.  This specimen was collected in August 1857 near the town of Alnwick. 

• Astragalus danicus

  The Purple Milk-Vetch, Astragalus danicus is locally scarce in Northumberland.  This perennial herb grows on chalk and limestone soils and its common name is derived from the belief that it improved the milk yield of livestock.  The flowers are purple, but the colour has faded away in this specimen, collected in Belford village in Northumberland in 1882.

• The facility featured in Ben Rivers’ film Urth is Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona, northeast of the city of Tucson.  The specimens shown here are from the surrounding landscape. 

  Tumamoca macdougallii is on the list of Arizona Protected Plants and is named after the Tumamoc Hill, just west of the city of Tucson, where the University of Arizona has an environmental research facility, The Desert Laboratory.

   

• This cactus specimen, collected in 1909, is from the genus Echinocereus and has yet to be identified to species level.  This genus is native from southern Colorado, south to Mexico.  This specimen was collected in Ramsey Canyon, in the Huachuca Mountains, southeast of Tucson, close to the Mexican border.