Enhancing understanding of plant taxonomies

Research is one of the defining activities of a botanic garden. Often, this takes the form of work that is directly associated with the plant collection.

At Ness, we house large and important collections of tree species, including Sorbus and Betula. These act as a resource for botanists across the UK, but have also been the focus of research carried out by our own botanists within the gardens.

Cytological and morphological research carried out by Dr. Hugh McAllister led to a taxonomic revision of three genera: Betula, Sorbus and Hedera. This work has enhanced our understanding of how different taxa within the genus Betula are related to one another and informs on the nature of species in this taxonomically complex genus.

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