Herbarium

Doors Open Day in Edinburgh. First stop was the Herbarium at the Botanic Gardens.

I walked around or through the the gardens most days when I was at secondary school, but had never been in any of the research buildings. Great tour describing how the collection, over 3 million items and rising, was started and how it is catalogued and used these days. Surprisingly little of it is held electronically, mainly anything that has been added or borrowed since the 90s. There are just rows and rows, and floors and floors of grey filing cabinets.