30/01/2014 Newsnight Scotland


30/01/2014

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leadership whether it is public or private as I would like to think I

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have learnt that by spending 40 years with these characters from the

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White House. Tonight, to the immensely from everyone we now have

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a national tree. The Scots pain. And now there is a proposal to have a

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national bird, the golden eagle. But is creating national symbols by

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official diktat likely to be any more successful than changing the

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weather by official diktat? Or does it just miss the whole point of

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having traditions? Also tonight, you'd expect to find new plants,

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national or not, in the fields and forests. We report on how they're

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discovering new species to science in the filing cabinets here in

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Edinburgh. Good evening. This week Scotland

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became one of the nations of the world with its own National Tree.

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And debate is raging on about what would be the most appropriate

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National Bird. This is a country which has no shortage of symbols,

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some may say Scotland's reputation in the furthest flung parts of the

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world depends to a great extent on stereotypes, from thistles and

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whisky to haggis and the Loch Ness Monster. So what's the requirement

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for newer, more official symbols? Steven Godden reports.

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It's no longer dominates the landscape as it once did, but in

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pockets of the Highlands forests made up of native Scots pain offer a

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picture postcard remainder of our ancient woodland heritage. It is one

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that clearly strikes a chord with the nation 's tree lovers, following

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a consultation run by the Forestry Commission Pinus sylvestris was the

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overwhelming choice as the national tree. Cue a minister pushing a

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wheelbarrow. It is the simple business, it is identified with

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Scotland. It is something we can use to help towards the importance of

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trees at the National environment to children but also to wider society

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to get elected in domains between the importance of the environment

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and the health of our trees. The formalities have still to be

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completed but in a few months time the Scots pain will be officially

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Scotland's national tree. Part of a growing trend it seems for new

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national symbols. In one of the week 's more surreal movements, costumed

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campaigners petitioned MS keys on the half of the golden eagle, making

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of Scotland's national bird would, they argue, offer the persecuted

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raptor greater protection. But the appeal also a at its core. It has

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long been seen as a pack -- as a symbol of power. There is an almost

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mystical fascination with them. The simple thing of human beings

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coveting the attributes and characteristics of it will feature.

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In committee a reminder of the dangers associated with choosing

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symbols. The lack the golden eagle is the symbol of an empire that once

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invaded parts of Scotland and more recently of another empire that

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tried to. In the lifetime of many people in this country it is the

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last thing the relatives saw as they were marched to their deaths. It has

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been a symbol of imperial power of what Scotland is emphatically not.

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Never has been and hopefully never will be. The debates and ending the

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golden eagle will go on, but successfully campaigners would mean

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another addition to the array of symbols that have long been used to

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sell a vision of Scotland to the world. Pegs and drums, -- hikes and

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drums... Pates and this was shortbread tin imagery guaranteed to

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make modern admen wince. The ivy shaggy highland cattle Scotland. In

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these days of brand Scotland the approach might be more nuanced but

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the fundamentals have not changed. The great stories about symbols, to

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identify attribute or components of the country and presenting them, it

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offers the possibility of the week, discussion, it creates a focus for

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people and create an opportunity for marketing, messaging to go out

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globally. In 2014 Scotland's story is under the most intense scrutiny,

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so what should we read into the emergence of new symbols and

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referendum year? It is a positive thing, we should stay positive

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messages out of that, people care about the environment, about these

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species and want to see them protected or at least to recognise

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them for the portals to Scotland rather than perhaps the other side

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of things which people might focus on about having symbols and national

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icons for Scotland that this particular time in the political

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environment we all face. From those who would have these symbols that

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are marketing armoury, a note of caution. Too many symbols could

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become confusing and if you have competing symbols or two symbols

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representing the same thing greeted by different groups of different

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organisations then there will come a point when it is maybe piloting the

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overall impact but I think there is a long way to go before a Scottish

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symbols are things that represents the best of Scotland have reached

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saturation point. Beyond the Scots pine what if anything comes next?

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I'm joined now from London by the novelist and occasional standup

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comedian AL Kennedy, and in Edinburgh by Magnus Linklater,

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author of a Saltire Society pamphlet on the very question of national

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symbols. Magnus, I see the point in England

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where there is some tradition of English books, for good reasons,

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what is the point of inventing a national tree? I can quite see the

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point, particularly the Scots pine is a very traditional thing, as I

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think... Nothing against the Scots pine it is a lovely tree. It is

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lovely. Too much Scottish symbols and it seems to be tentatively

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backward looking. We would be looking at Carton and whiskey and we

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are all very tried, well tested, they don't do me say very much about

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modern Scotland. And a lot of the things that we tend to associate

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with Scotland are backward looking, traditional, rather stuck in the

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mud. We need to try and look more at what modern Scotland is about and

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where the country wants to go. What would you nominate? It is a tricky

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one, because I think that a lot of what is good about Scotland today,

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cultural things about its part, its rating are about the things that

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this creates rather than the things that look back to the starter. I

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will come out with something wishy-washy, but an amalgam of those

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ideas and I will start working on it but once you start bringing up, I

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don't no, eagles and Scots pine. You want to tell us what you wishy-washy

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candidate is? Now. Isn't it great that Scottish artist at the cutting

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edge of art and writers are doing great things and all those seem to

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me to stand for Scotland of today rather than the Scotland of

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yesterday. A picture of Irving Welsh. The picture of Alison

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Kennedy! What do you make of the trees, Alison? They're lovely. Scots

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pine does sort of simply a punch line. Yes, we all do, Carolyn is

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terribly well because its flag is a leaf and you can take offence at the

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leaf. Canadians are incredibly pleasant but their flag is lovely.

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You can feel they would do you harm and I can see that environmentalists

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would like to promote the welfare of the environment in general, we have

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a wonderful environment, all of the raptors are threatened. The eagle

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does not have a great history as a symbol. Having a huge predator as a

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mascot is maybe not ideal. I can see the point. And become national

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symbols, the Canadians, that is on the flag. It has been for ages.

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Before that, people still say, maple syrup, with Canada. Not because of

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the Canadian government passed a law! These things evolve over time.

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All the things Magnus does not like, the problem is, just passing a law

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of doing something by diktat will not make people in, I don't know,

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Kazakhstan, associate Scotland with the Scots pine. On Saturday night I

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was at a Burns supper. Literally make deep in symbolism. But also,

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the abolition of the symbols, you can say they are cliched, or an

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adventure in -- and invention, but all that is evolving. They are quite

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cool, and it, you were a cute with Timberland boots, -- kilt, you don't

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have to do the whole Bonnie Prince Charlie thing. It is great to

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promote the Scottish environment with spending money on marketing

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where we have a recognisable brands. We have discovered hitherto

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unsuspected areas of agreement between Alison Kennedy and Jackson

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Karloff. -- Carlaw. Do you have concern about the golden eagle? I do

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not think people look at them and think, oh my God, there is aimed at

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them and think, oh my God, there is a Nat C symbol flying through the

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air. -- Nazi symbol. The rhododendron, maybe we should use

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that as the symbol of the new Scotland. It gets everywhere and use

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and click and hold back. I will go for that. -- you simply cannot hold

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it back. Right, a sparrow? All right, the sparrow. What about

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Robinson. Already a British national bird? And in America, all the states

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have these things. They have a flower, a bird, a reptile, and

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nobody knows what they are, really cares. Magnus, you have a thesis

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that most nationalist traditions and symbols on examination turned out to

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be called Zwolle. -- codswallop. Is not that, at least myths which do

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not stand up to scrutiny. Our education is the finest in the

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world, all these claims, on close examination, turn out to be thin. It

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is a good thing to actually examine some of our cherished myths and ask

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ourselves if they still stand up. And if they do not, how can they be

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rectified? An awful lot of the things we pat ourselves on the back

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about actually are no longer true. And indeed, have not been for some

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time. The gap between rich and poor is getting greater and greater, so

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what happened to that famous Scottish sense of fairness and

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equality? These are the things that actually it is quite healthy to...

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Sorry, we are out of time. But all of these problems will be sold under

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the sign of the Rodeo Denver on! -- rhododendron.

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Hugh Williams reports now is how we are at the forefront of the search

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for new species that have never before been recorded described. It

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is effectively a library of plants. Tried and preserved, leaves, pods,

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petals, Twix. Collected over centuries. This was collected in

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1897 by Alexander Brown. Some people claim taxonomy, the science of

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making list and giving the names as the worlds oldest profession. This

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was collected by Charles Darwin on his voyages in the Beagle. It does

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not look like much. Yes, there were complaints about the specimens. They

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came from theology but led to what we recognise today is signed. --

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since. -- science. They wanted to understand the world as God gave it

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and classify the work. To do so, they had to create specimens to keep

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a record of what they were finding and discovering. These are specimens

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were and pressed, they acted as a record that people could then go

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back to imagine an intrepid journey through

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the jungles of Borneo. But it is also about giving a name to

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something that has never been named before. There are around 3 million

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plants here. They're adding to that collection at the rate of 30,000 new

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specimens every year. Later studies suggest that half of

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all flowering plants still being discovered have already been

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collected. They are sitting in cabinets around the world waiting

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for scientists to come and look at them and described them as new

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species. What sort of numbers of never before recorded by since

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plants have you gotten this collection? New species? Current

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estimates suggest that maybe we have got about 3000. The Royal botanic

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Garden is still sending expeditions around the world to research and

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collect new plants. We need to organise them rigourously. If you

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put something in the wrong cupboard you will never find it again. What

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to plant collectors look for? Plants of a particular family that mean now

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need lots of work. And a particular area. Like the Himalayas, where we

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want to collect a collective thing we know to get a better record of

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the plants in that area. We thought this had been extinct for 200 years.

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It was originally described by a botanist from Aberdeen, William

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Jack, in 1822. In the next edition discovered this. It is not a new

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discovery. U2 since. -- new to science. So what happens if they

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find a species new to science? We start investigating deeper. And also

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looking at the rest of the collections, so we get a really good

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idea of what were looking at in terms of diversity. Only then when

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you dial a detective or can you figure out, yes, I think this is a

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new species. Give me an idea. Here we describe a worldwide new species

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per week. -- about one new species per week. The Royal botanic Garden

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is about 10% of the way to a grant to make 10% of its images available

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on line. We have lots of scientists working with the collections. We

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want to make them available to people around the world who cannot

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come. In addition, more and more we are trying to get specimens imaged

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and database online. So that botanist around the world can work

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with them. This plant was collected in Turkey in 1845. Making images

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like this available on the Internet is transforming the work. The

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quality that we produce for digitising is high enough so that

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some taxonomic work can be done. From another country. Online. There

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are perhaps 40,000 species of flour and plants still to be discovered

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and described. But as well as those waiting in the wild there are

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unrecognised treasures already in the archives.

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Extraordinary. The front pages: We will be back on Monday. Good night.

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Hello. A few showers around. Fog will form by morning. The weather

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will get more lively tomorrow. 30 millimetres of rain, and amber

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warning in force or Somerset. The range of clear Northern Ireland but

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as it hits Scotland and northern England, since now. Higher roots in

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the Grampian is not very pleasant at all. Not very pleasant if you are

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travelling anywhere. Perhaps reaching the extreme east at 56

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o'clock. A wet afternoon for most. The rains accompanied by

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strengthening wind. There are warnings in force. Not just

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Somerset, that is where the amber warning is, yellow warnings

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elsewhere. Saturday, heavy showers. The wind may start to cause

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problems. Particularly if it coincides with high

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