DETAILS

Discipline

NH: BOTANY: VASCULAR PLANTS BRITISH

Scientific Name

Rubus mercicus

Common Name

herbarium specimen

Date Collected

2 August 1892

Place Collected

England, Warwickshire, Water Orton (place collected)

Vice County

038

Collection

Glasgow University Collection

Description

Brambles are a familiar sight along hedgerows and woodland margins, and are very popular at this time of year for their fruit (blackberries). There are in fact over 330 different species that have been named in the UK, with perhaps 40 or so occurring in the wider Glasgow area; over half of the species described in the UK are thought to be endemic (i.e. not found in Europe). They are considered a ‘critical’ group with a complex breeding systems, which can result in many slightly differing clones developing, each one identifiable (with a little practice!). People who study brambles (‘batologists’) spend a long time learning the different characters used for successful identification. A useful resource to aid the study is a reference collection of well named specimens, to be used for comparison with unknown collections. The specimen shown here is an example from a collection known as the ‘Set of British Rubi’ comprising 134 named species compiled and verified by the Rev. E F Linton and contemporary batologists between 1892 and 1895. It is part of the University of Glasgow’s Botany Department’s herbarium collection which has over 40,000 specimens of flowering plants and was recently incorporated into the museum’s large herbarium collection.

Brambles are a familiar sight along hedgerows and woodland margins and are very popular at this time of year for their fruit (blackberries). There are in fact over 330 different species that have been named in the UK, with perhaps 40 or so occurring in the wider Glasgow area; over half of the species described in the UK are thought to be endemic (i.e. not found in Europe). They are considered a ‘critical’ group with a complex breeding system, which can result in many slightly differing clones developing, each one identifiable (with a little practice!). People who study brambles (‘batologists’) spend a long time learning the different characters used for successful identification. A useful resource to aid the study is a reference set to be used for comparison with newly collected specimens. The specimen shown here is an example from a collection known as the ‘Set of British Rubi’ comprising 134 named species compiled and verified by the Rev. E F Linton and contemporary batologists between 1892 and 1895. It is part of the University of Glasgow’s Botany Department’s herbarium collection which has over 40,000 specimens of flowering plants and was recently incorporated into the museum’s large herbarium collection.

ID Number

B.2008.48.1.9835

Location

In storage