Legacy

Photographs and letters are just some of the exhibits in this display about the young men of the RBGE who played a role in the First World War. Some returned, others did not. To commemorate their fallen colleagues, plants subsequently discovered by RBGE staff have been named after them. There is also a rather beautifully inscribed war memorial in the herbarium building in their memory. The display explains the diverse roles of botanical staff, which included those too old to fight helping with the identification and collection of sphagnum moss; gathered all over Scotland, then dried, it was sent to the front for use in the dressing of wounds.