A botanical specimen collected by Charles Darwin and preserved at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is one of the rare objects examined by Fiona Bruce on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow this week. The sample dates back to the 1830s.
Filmed in Summer 2021, the episode is the second of three programmes to be shot in the garden. The final episode featuring RBGE is expected to be shown later in the year in summer.
The gentian Gentianella magellanica specimen was collected by Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory, as he voyaged around South America on the HMS Beagle. One of 80 Darwin specimens now conserved as part of the research institute’s Herbarium collection of 3million preserved plants and fungi, it is a valuable source of data for RBGE and scientists around the world.
