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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Donna Ferguson

Cambridge offers botany course that inspired Darwin after rare archive uncovered

Botanical illustration of Vaccinium vitis idaea (cowberry) showing berries, pods and leaves
Vaccinium vitis-ideae or cowberry by John Stevens Henslow. The illustrations seen here are being published for the first time. Photograph: Cambridge University Herbarium (CGE)

Plant specimens and teaching materials that inspired Charles Darwin and qualified him to work as a naturalist on HMS Beagle have been unearthed from an archive in Cambridge and will be used for the first time to teach contemporary students about botany.

The fragile specimens, ink drawings and watercolour illustrations of plants belonged to Darwin’s teacher and mentor, Prof John Stevens Henslow, and have been stored in Cambridge University’s herbarium for nearly 200 years.

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