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Ranunculaceae, or Buttercup family, have a global distribution, with approximately 43 genera and over 2,000 species. In this expedition we will be exploring the Ranunculaceae of Britain and Ireland.

Familiar species in Britain and Ireland include Ranunculus repens (the creeping buttercup) and Clematis vitabla (Traveller's joy).

The creeping buttercup and meadow buttercup both have bright yellow flowers. The creeping buttercup can form dense networks of plants by sending out runners which root easily, and can become a problem in gardens, although it can be a bright addition to flower rich lawns and is a good source of pollen for many insects.

Clematis vitalba will frequently be seen gwoing through hedgerows in the throughout Britain. It is native to Southern England, but has now spread and can be found in most areas other than northern Scotland. In the autumn its feathery seedsm which are held in clusters can easily be spotted. These seeds have given rise to another common name for this species 'old mans beard'.

The collections from Britain and Ireland held within the RBGE Herbarium are estimated to number over 500,000 specimens of cryptogams (algae, fungi, lichens and mosses), ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants. In 2021 we began to increase our in-house digitisation capacity with the aim of completing the digitisation of its 3 million specimens in a 5-year programme (2021-2025). The next series of expeditions seek to complement this body of work by enriching the basic online catalogue records produced by the in-house digitisation team with specimen label data.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s extensive Herbarium numbers nearly three million specimens representing half to two thirds of the world's flora. It is considered a leading botanical collection, and every year many researchers from around the world visit to study our specimens.