2025 Scottish Botanists' Conference
The Scottish Botanists' Conference is now fully booked! If you would like to join the waiting list for this event, please use the 'Join waiting list' button to the right. Thank you, and our apologies for any disappointment. Spaces are still available for the post-Conference Dinner on Saturday 1st November at 18:30 (email enquiries@bsbi.org), and the RBGE Herbarium Open House on Sunday 2nd November (email Lesley Scott).
Arrival from 9:15am for 10:00am start
The conference will be held on Saturday 1st November at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE). There will be a wide range of talks to enjoy, including on research into montane woodland restoration, measures to help conserve Whorled Solomon’s-seal, the flora of Scottish Cemeteries, securing the future of rare bryophytes at Bavelaw Reservoir, an updated Eyebright taxonomy for us to digest, and the results of a national survey of the very rare alpine Tufted Saxifrage.
Updates from the BSBI and BSS will be provided as well, and the afternoon workshop sessions offer everything from Rushes for Complete Beginners to Glasswort and montane Dandelion ID, with an open discussion session on Conservation Translocations also available.
Everyone, whether BSBI or BSS members, RBGE staff and students, or none of the above, are very welcome at the Scottish Botanists' Conference.
As usual the conference will include the BSBI’s Scottish Annual General Meeting, during which elections for membership of the Committee for Scotland will be held. If any of our Scottish members would be interested in joining the Committee, we would love to hear from you. Please contact the Secretary Polly Spencer-Vellacott or Chair David Elston to discuss what's involved.
Charges and Packed Lunch
A general admission fee of £30 will be charged to cover organisation costs, workshops, speakers' expenses and morning and afternoon teas and coffees. Sadly, the RBGE staff canteen will not be open for lunch, so please remember to bring a packed lunch! There are also a few small cafés within a 15 minute walk, and the RBGE public café at the Gateway will be open as well.
Programme
The full programme will soon be made available here. Planned talks include:
- Blending research and practice to restore Scotland's mountain woodlands – Sarah Watts, Conservation Manager, Corrour Estate / University of Stirling
- Conserving the nationally rare Whorled Solomon’s-seal (Polygonatum verticillatum) - Dr Aline Finger, RBGE
- A survey of Scotland’s Tufted Saxifrage (Saxifraga cespitosa) populations – Gus Routledge, Adoxa Ecology
- The Flora of Scottish Cemeteries – Dr John Grace, BSS Urban Flora Project
- Securing the future of rare bryophytes at Bavelaw Reservoir, Midlothian – David Chamberlain, BSS
- Lee’s ‘Flora of the Clyde Area’: an approaching centenary – Michael Philip, BSBI Vice-County Recorder for Dumbartonshire and Lanarkshire
- Towards a New Euphrasia (Eyebright) Taxonomy – Chris Metherell, BSBI Euphrasia Referee, and the Euphrasia team
- Student research flash talks
Workshops
There are eight options, for two workshop sessions during the afternoon, as well as a lunchtime discussion group on the BSBI Recording App – see below for details of each workshop. Each conference participant can attend up to two workshops (plus the lunchtime discussion group if they wish) and should select their preferences when they book their ticket. Every effort will be made to assign people to their preferred workshop, but please be aware that spaces are limited on many of these and are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have a query regarding the workshops please email the BSBI Scotland Officer Matt Harding.
Conservation Translocations discussion – Alistair Whyte |
General |
With landscape-level habitat restoration becoming more commonplace, and with species translocations regularly used as a tool for conserving threatened species, we invite the Scottish botanical community to join a round-table discussion on the subject. What should the criteria be for using translocation as a conservation tool? What information should be recorded and how should it be shared? Should efforts focus on replacing losses, creating new populations, both, or neither? How does the genetic provenance of material for translocations fit into the picture? Let’s discuss! |
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Rushes for Complete Beginners – Chris Miles FULL |
Beginners |
Want to get started with this brilliant but intimidating group of plants? Chris will help you get to grips with the nine rush (Juncus) species you are most likely to encounter in Scotland – a great introduction to the genus. |
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Conifers for Beginners – Katia Trevino Cuellar, RBGE FULL |
Beginners |
Confused by conifers? This workshop will cover the most common genera and how to ID to family or genus, then do a slightly deeper dive into a few genera looking at commonly encountered species within them. |
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Tackling brambles with the Scottish Brambles Handbook – Angus Hannah FULL |
General |
Angus, author of the superb new BSBI Handbook: Brambles of Scotland, will help demystify this group of plants, leading you through the different characters to get you to a species ID. Attendees should bring the handbook with them if they have it, but this is not essential as relevant pages will be shared, and no prior experience is necessary. |
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Mountain Dandelion (Taraxacum) Identification - John Richards FULL |
General |
Dandelion ID is notoriously tricky, but as you go higher the options get fewer! John will take you through the identification of the six species in Section Crocea that are found in Scotland above 600m, along with other species that you might find in the mountains. A great way to get started with the group. |
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Getting started with the BSBI Recording App – James Drever FULL |
Beginners (on the App) |
The BSBI Recording App, launched last year, has revolutionised how many botanists record plant data. Join James as he takes you through how to get set up with the App, and explore the features that make plant recording easy and informative for you. |
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Introduction to Lichens – Becky Yahr FULL |
Beginners (at lichens) |
Not strictly plants, but a fascinating and under-recorded group of organisms that everyone should learn about! Becky will introduce the main types of lichen and how to go about starting to identify them for yourself. No prior lichen experience necessary. |
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Glasswort (Salicornia) Identification – Fred Rumsey FULL |
General |
So often recorded as ‘Salicornia agg.’ rather than to species, Fred will provide expert guidance in how to take it a step further and identify these unique saltmarsh plants to species. Glassworts are at their best in the autumn, so adding this string to your botanical bow will help keep your field season going right the way through to next year’s conference! |
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LUNCHTIME SLOT Where next for the BSBI Recording App? – Tom Humphrey FULL |
Recording App users |
A year on from the launch of the BSBI Recording App, join its creator Tom Humphrey to discuss what direction the next phase of App development should go in and what new features would be useful to you as recorders. This informal session will run over lunchtime to enable everyone who wants to share their thoughts to attend. |
Remember the workshops, like all the talks, are entirely optional and you may prefer to have an extended lunch break catching up with friends, view the exhibition and posters, visit the Summerfield Books stand, or get out into the gardens for a breath of fresh air.
Summerfield Books
We are delighted to welcome Summerfield Books to the conference once again! If you would like Summerfield to bring anything specific for you to look at do let them know via info@summerfieldbooks.com. You can also pre-order anything through the website and Summerfield will bring it for collection on the day.
Conference Dinner
The Scottish Botanists’ Conference Dinner will be held at 6:30pm at the Heriot's Rugby Club, a short 5 minute walk up the road from the conference venue. Dinner will be a sit-down hot buffet style affair, with all dietary requirements catered for – but please let us know them on the booking form! Drinks will be available from the venue’s bar.
The Dinner ticket cost is £30, which you can pay when you book. The Dinner is always very popular – a great way to meet fellow botanists and catch up with friends after the whirlwind of the conference! We look forward to seeing you there.
Exhibitors
The Conference Exhibition is a great mix of interesting botanical finds and research/project posters, and a brilliant way to share your work with the Scottish botanical community. All participating botanists are invited to exhibit – the more displays, the better the exhibition!
If you would like to exhibit, when you book for this event please:
- Select an 'Exhibitor space' ticket as well as a General Admission ticket - you can select up to two exhibitor spaces.
- Give the title of your exhibit or poster.
- Select how much space you require. Please note, due to limited space, very large requests may have to be reduced.
Please also email an abstract of your exhibit or poster of no more than 50 words to Liz Lavery by 25th October.
Photographic Exhibition and Competition
All amateur photographers are welcome to enter the BSBI Photographic Competition, the deadline for which is Friday 24th October. Full details of the competition are on the competition webpage. Winners will be selected by a popular vote by all those attending the Scottish Botanists' Conference.
The categories in 2025 are:
- Intrepid: finding plants in wild places
Show us your most inspiring pictures of wild plants in inspiring landscapes or particular habitats - Inquisitive: up close with diagnostic features
What makes the plant in your photo identifiable? Show us its unique features - Inclusive: sharing plants with others
Botany is about community; help us see where the plants and people come together
Travel
Considering the climate crisis and the high cost of fuel, we'd really like to encourage participants to travel by public transport or at least car share wherever possible.
Personal Information
The information being requested on the booking form will only be held and used by the BSBI to administer this conference and to let you know about next year's event. We ask you for your name, contact email address, organisation/role (optional) and home town (optional). Please see the BSBI Privacy Policy for further details of how your data will be handled and stored. You can request to see the data we hold, request its removal or update your contact preferences at any time by contacting us. To do so, email enquiries@bsbi.org.
Photos
We would like to take occasional photographs showing participants listening to the talks and viewing the exhibits, for publicity purposes. Please let the photographer know if you do not wish to be included in these photographs.
Refunds
Full refunds will be offered to anyone who needs to cancel up to one week before the event. If you have to cancel at shorter notice, we may not be able to refund your fee.
Social media
Use #ScotBotanistsConf to follow the event on Bluesky and Twitter.
RBGE Herbarium open house – Sunday 2nd November
A reminder that the botanical fun doesn’t stop at the end of the Conference this year! RBGE are running a Herbarium open house event on Sunday 2nd November, and would like to invite any botanists with an interest in the British and Irish collection to join them. The event will run from 10:00am until 4:00pm.
This is a rare opportunity to look through the unmounted collections behind the scenes, practice your identification skills, consult historic collections, and contribute to curatorial milestones in the national Herbarium.
Significant collections of the following genera will be on display: Quercus, Rubus, Salix, Potamogeton, Taraxacum and Hieracium, in addition to a number of mixed collections of vascular plants
Significant collectors include: A. Stirling, G H Ballantyne, J. E. Cousins, R. J. Pankhurst, A. Kenneth, A. Craig-Christie, D.A. Ratcliffe.
Please RSVP to Lesley Scott (lscott@rbge.org.uk).
If you have one, please bring a laptop to access the BSBI Database and other online resources. Tea, coffee and a sandwich lunch will be provided.
Photo credit: Saxifraga cespitosa (Tufted Saxifrage) - one of just three known plants at its site in the Grey Corries, Westerness), by Matt Harding
Location
Science Buildings, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Inverleith Row, EH3 5LR