Beauty and wonder of plants celebrated in new exhibitions

Published On Tue 16 Jan 2018 by Grant Hill

Two new exhibitions opening at the University of Dundee this weekend focus on the wonder of plants and the role they play in our lives.

In the Lamb Gallery, the exhibition Botanical Conversations features highlights from the University’s Herbarium collection as well as stunning botanical teaching charts and beautiful works of art and creative writing inspired by plants. Exploring our own Backyard in the Tower Foyer Gallery has been put together by the University of Dundee Botanic Garden and highlights the current project to revamp the garden’s native plants area.

Both exhibitions open on Saturday 20 January and will run until mid-March.

Matthew Jarron, Curator of Museum Services at the University, said, “Plants form the basis of life on earth. They are vital to our health and well-being as well as being an amazing inspiration for creativity. Our first Professor of Botany, Patrick Geddes, coined the phrase ‘by leaves we live’, a recognition that every aspect of our lives - culture, healthcare, the economy and the environment – are all reliant on plants.”

Botanical Conversations describes the history of botany teaching at Dundee and also showcases some fascinating research projects being carried out both at the University and at the James Hutton Institute, including:

  • Researchers in the School of Life Sciences aiming to improve the digestibility of crop wastes
  • The citizen science GROW Laboratory at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design
  • Researchers in the School of Social Sciences studying the effects of El Nino and other climate shocks on tropical forests
  • The Beauty of Roots – paintings by Jean Duncan, artist in residence with the Centre for Environmental Change & Human Resilience, created in collaboration with soil scientists
  • Work by the James Hutton Institute to improve environmental sustainability by promoting legume-based food systems

Exploring our own Backyard also celebrates the work of William Gardiner, a working man from Dundee who became a distinguished botanist in the first half of the nineteenth century, and was the first to compile a flora of the local area.

Neil Paterson, Public Engagement Officer at Botanic Garden, said, “The native plants area is the jewel in the Garden’s crown. It is still unusual in botanic gardens, which traditionally showed little interest in their natives. Our garden is young, founded in 1971, and it was committed from the start to telling the story of Scottish plants and their ecology.”

Opening hours for both exhibitions are 9.30am-7pm on weekdays and 1-5pm each Saturday.


For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
Tel: +44 (0)1382 384768
Mobile: 07854 953277
Email: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk