An unlikely pair of collectors today from my Trinity #herbarium tour today, Darwin and Lamarck.

Things written on the back of herbarium labels are fascinating. This is a particularly enigmatic scribble. Is it a map?

Bluesky, who is good at early 19th Century French signatures? This a from a letter where a botanist casts shade on one of my botanical heroes, approx 1820.

Spring Quill (Scilla verna) on Wicklow Head #WildflowerHour

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We've now passed 70k records and should pass 50k images shortly! If you are revising a group, get in touch and we will prioritize it for digitisation.

The International Association for Plant Taxonomy mourns the passing of Dr. Peter H. Raven, whose extraordinary life transformed the Missouri Botanical Garden and helped shape botany as a truly global enterprise.

Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

Its strangely apropriate to name this after somone famous for having her data stolen and not being given credit

Ah that old chestnut, where a reviewer rejects your methods as "too ambitious" when they are routine, just weren't when the reviewer last did labwork two decades ago...

If you want to know how fast Irish trains are, my train left central Dublin 15 minutes before this ferry. The ferry is further south, at speed of 23.2 knots.

🌿🌍 Join us to learn about the newly published “No evidence for the niche breadth – range size hypothesis in big plant genera” in @annbot.bsky.social by Ludwig Baldaszti and co-authors. (1/9) 👉 doi.org/qnrq @baldasztil.bsky.social @caroaceae.bsky.social @petermoonlight.bsky.social #PlantScience

We are looking for a dedicated and passionate digitisation assistant to help us image the historic herbarium collections in Trinity College Dublin. If that sounds like you, please get in touch and apply! my.corehr.com/pls/trrecrui...

BHL's new chapter has begun! 🌱 Our latest #BHLTransition Update shares where BHL is now: stable, fully operational, and nearing completion of its transition. BHL has retained its people, its expertise, and its ability to operate effectively. 🔗 blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/01/tran... #ILoveBHL

We are looking for a dedicated and passionate digitisation assistant to help us image the historic herbarium collections in Trinity College Dublin. If that sounds like you, please get in touch and apply! my.corehr.com/pls/trrecrui...

Really exciting to get some press coverage on our Prototaxites paper @instmolplantsci.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A proper day out in the Cairngorms on this day 7 years ago.

@siobhanleachman.bsky.social A challenge for you! Who was Miss Schultz? She was collecting in Norfolk Island, probably in the 1840-60s. This writing is in William Henry Harvey's hand in TCD. I think specimens by Miss Schultz are attributed to various male Schultz botanists in Kew.

Scaffolding for Scientific Knowledge – the Nomenclatural Checklist stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/40823

Is anyone on BlueSky hot on their late 17th to early 18th century European playing cards? I turned this one up in Trinity College Dublin Herbarium today, with a herbarium collection of a similar age.

We have a new Dr in #paleobotany! Congratulations to @thibault-durieux.bsky.social who successfully passed his viva. It was a great journey & he made the advising job very easy for @petermoonlight.bsky.social, Carla Harper and I. Big thanks to the examiners Jenny McElwain & @sandyheth.bsky.social!

The UW Herbarium @ Burke Museum is hiring a Research Mycologist! 🍄 Focus: fungal systematics & evolution, collections-based research, and outreach. Initial 3-year appointment, renewable pending funding. Apply here! wd5.myworkdaysite.com/recruiting/u... Please share widely!

It takes a special level of incompetance from @deltaairways.bsky.social to drop their passengers in one terminal in the busiest airport in the world and send the luggage to a different terminal entirely, only connected by bus.

Just over three weeks left if you are thinking of applying for this amazing job!

The first European animal declared extinct in my lifetime will not be the last.

A new article on the recently uncovered specimens of 18th century botanist/spy for Louis the 16th of France, Joseph Dombey in Trinity College Dublin herbarium, out in #TrinityToday

Calling botanical researchers, the School of Natural Science at Trinity College Dublin is hiring a tenure track Assistant Professor in Plant Biodiversity and Conservation. I know this is someone's dream job, so let me know if that is you and you want to chat! my.corehr.com/pls/trrecrui...

🔥 Britain is about to launch a new GCSE in natural history – a vital step toward restoring our knowledge of and respect for the natural world.

Calling botanical researchers, the School of Natural Science at Trinity College Dublin is hiring a tenure track Assistant Professor in Plant Biodiversity and Conservation. I know this is someone's dream job, so let me know if that is you and you want to chat! my.corehr.com/pls/trrecrui...

Curators and botanists, does anyone know what this could be? It belonged to William Henry Harvey, botanist, collector, and former curator of TCD herbarium (1844-66). It is a 1.2m high, 25cm wide metal tube that once had a locking lid. Perhaps watertight.

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

My daughter had the MMR vaccine today. This was based on science.

"Why do queen bumblebees emerge from hibernation during weekends?" I love this framing about bias in hobbyist-collected data.

Trinity College Dublin herbarium are now on @gbif.org! We have just 52k records for now and mostly minimal data with full data and images to follow, but its a big step forward. www.gbif.org/dataset/5ec4...

A new paper by @petermoonlight.bsky.social published in #EJBotany #OpenAccess @thebotanics.bsky.social on the names in the genus #Begonia published in Vellozo’s #FloraFluminensis: rbge.cc/47Q6wmL

Madrid Code online!! 🎉🪸🍄🌿 www.iaptglobal.org/_functions/code/madrid

I'm sorry, what 🤯

Five species from Ireland's temperate rainforest in five minutes, presented by me! I am super happy with how this turned out, so do take a look. And a huge thank you to Michelle, Daniel, Peter L, and Jenny for making this happen! youtu.be/xHRUBeukH6E

Five species from Ireland's temperate rainforest in five minutes, presented by me! I am super happy with how this turned out, so do take a look. And a huge thank you to Michelle, Daniel, Peter L, and Jenny for making this happen! youtu.be/xHRUBeukH6E

This, combined with two factor authentification, is now at least half of the job of an academic.

I'm essentially unable to log into any websites run by Editorial Manager. I have 20 something different logins saved, with different usernames and passwords, for different journals. My password manager is useless, and I am at the point where every login requires a PW reset.

My predictive text used a sad emoji. Is it depressed?

Michigan State University is hiring a new Director of our herbarium! This is an open rank, tenure-stream faculty position, with research focus in plant or fungal systematics, ecology, and/or evolution Please consider applying and help spread the word! plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

Finally finished extracting and plotting all the locations in Jamaica that Hans Sloane (1660-1753) mentioned in his work, the Voyage to the Islands. Unsurprisingly, they are mostly in the south-central part of the island, but also show his trip north @nhm-london.bsky.social @rxcoulton.bsky.social

Meanwhile, in the real world, we just missed out flight because of a 1 hr queue to check in a baby seat followed by a 2 hr security queue at Birmingham airport 🤬

The bicycle played a rich role in Ireland’s past. Now it is key to our future | Cian Ginty

Reckon so - especially as it lends credence to my lobed maidenhair spleenwort Asplenium trichomanes subsp pachyrhacis at Knaresborough Castle after several years fruitless checking of specimens (thanks to @bsbiscience.bsky.social for the tip!) #UrbanPlants #WildflowerHour

Do they count as #UrbanPlants if growing on the wall of a derelict seaside castle? #WildflowerHour Who cares, especially when Limonium binervosa is so cool 😍

That has got to be the best "herbarium ghost" I've seen.