Back at the beginning of January I headed off to Cambridge
for this year’s BSHS Postgraduate Conference. I had a great three days listening
to some fantastic papers, visiting some amazing museums and getting to know
other students working in similar fields to me. I for one had not realised how
popular the history of botany was and not a million miles away from what I’m
doing either! It proved to be very thought provoking in terms of my own
research and really gave me the much needed enthusiasm I was lacking after the Christmas
break.
My favourite part of the Conference however, or at least the
part that sticks out the most for me, was our visit to the Cambridge University
Botanic Garden where we listened to a great talk from one of their
scientists, who had laid out a number of
examples from the collection to show us. I’ve seen behind the scenes of a
number of natural history museums of late, but never a herbarium so that in
itself was fascinating!
The specimens we were shown included Darwin’s cucumber (I
think that’s what it was)– one of those plants you know is important and love
to see and yet aren’t quite sure why. Well, let me tell you - it’s the last
remaining specimen of that particular plant that was collected by Darwin on the
Voyage of the ‘Beagle’ and given to John Stevens Henslow on his return. Now our
guide made a point of connecting the importance of such a specimen to modern science;
explaining how modern technology and new scientific approaches might one day
allow us to replicate the DNA of that specimen and begin cultivating new plants
to re-establish living populations as has been done with other recent examples.
Among the other specimens laid out the one that again really sticks out for me was
that which was carefully sealed in a plastic bag and described as the most
lethal plant on the planet. That of course immediately got everyone’s attention,
as it would, but so did the repeated insistence that we shouldn’t touch it.
All jokes aside, I think what made this visit particularly
memorable for me was the emphasis put on the important links between historic
specimens and modern science and how the two are continuing to inform each
other. There is a value in maintaining these sorts of collections beyond what
we would perhaps even think to consider and that was put across very well
during this visit. I now find myself having a better understanding of the work
modern botanists can do and the sorts of things they examine and I found that
incredibly interesting information to take away.
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