Uk and Ireland

Containing c. 300,000 specimens, these collections represent almost all the vascular plant taxa native to the British Isles.

They comprise a large number of individuals’ collections, with large contributions from Charles Cardale Babington (1808-1895, ~55,000 sheets) Edward Shearburn Marshall (1858-1919, ~23,000 sheets), Joseph Edward Little (1861-1935, ~6,000 sheets), Spencer Henry Bickham ( 1841-1933, ~24,000 sheets) and Peter Derek Sell (1929 - 2013, ~50,000 sheets).

Peter Sell (Assistant Curator 1972 – 1997) and Gina Murrell’s (Assistant Curator 2002-2012) work on the British and Irish flora culminated in the 5 volume Flora of Great Britain and Ireland (1996-2018). This work provides a definitive account of the native species, naturalised species, frequent garden escapes and casuals found in the British Isles, including infraspecific (below species-level) taxa. Also featured in our collection is the working set of specimens used by Augustine Henry (1857-1930) in the preparation of The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland (Elwes and Henry, 1906-1913), which he coauthored with Henry John Elwes.