The Botany and Mycology Collection
Last updated | 31/08/2010
These two collections have a combined total of 45 000 specimens the
majority of which are vascular plants including tree bark samples,
grasses, ferns and flowers. There are also 700 lichen specimens in
the Botany Collection. The Botany Collection at the Perth Museum
and Art Gallery is the fifth largest collection in Scotland and is
a valuable asset for research into the current distribution of
plant species and how they were distributed a hundred years
ago.
The Mycology Collection contains 653 specimens that were collected
in Perthshire. A lot of these were collected by a naturalist called
Charles McIntosh (1839-1922) who was also a friend of the famous
author Beatrix Potter (1866-1943). McIntosh found several fungi new
to Britain and discovered four species previously unknown to
science. One of these 'type' specimens, a kind of
micro-fungus is found in the Mycology Collection.
