Peter Moonlight

@petermoonlight.bsky.social

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#IAmABotanist Herbarium Curator & Assistant Professor of Botany at TCD

A set of algal specimens collected by Dawin (left) and a daffodil collected by Lamarck (right)
Fragments of a list of genera on the back of 8 Australian orchid labels.
A scan of a herbarium label (TCD0088160), photoshopped to show the scribbles on the back. See this link for the full specimen: http://54.72.131.62/iiif/2/TCD0088160.jpg/full/full/0/default.jpg
Illegible French Squiggle
Spring Quill (Scilla verna) on Wicklow Head
Adding a barcode to a historic specimen in Trinity College Dublin herbarium.
Looking down on the river Dee
A terrible, out of focus phone photo of a wood printed, hand coloured Queen of Diamonds playing card.
Botanical espionage, from page 35 of the Hilary 2025 edition of Trinity Today
Trinity College Dublin Herbarium
A metal tube, around 120 x 25 cm. Hollow with a lost locking lid. Once belonged to William Henry Harvey.
A 5 day old news article, presenting a statment by Birmingham airport that there are no queues as fact. In reality, the queues are awful.
Rock Sea Lavender, Limonium binervosum (G.E.Sm.) C.E.Salmon
A herbarium specimen in Trinity College Dublin, clearly showing the "ghost" of a leaf of a Melastomataceae
Sea Spurge, Euphorbia paralias L.
A glass Irish Lucozade bottle, of unknown age.
Figure 2. Morphological aspects of Begonia chucantiensis sp. nov. A plant habit B fertile branches C detail of fertile branch D leaves viewed from the adaxial side and staminate flower E leaves viewed from the abaxial side, staminate flower and fruit F stipules G front view of staminate flower H pistillate flower I lateral view of the fruit. Images A, B, D, E C. Mitre-Ramos. C, F, I L. Guillén. G, H J.L. Guerra.
Begonia cinnabarina (c) Ignacio Barrientos, adapted from iNaturalist observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/132302834
There are some very basic errors in the manuscript, which my 15 year-old daughter can explain from her standard school learning. Seeing such fundamental errors in a manuscript does not inspire confidence in the work, or the attention to detail that I would hope for.
Begonia corazoniae Naive sp. nov. (A) Habit, (B) stem, (C) stipule, (D) petiole, (E) lamina (left = adaxial surface, right = abaxial surface), (F) inflorescence, (G) front view of staminate flower, (H) profile view of pistillate flower, (I) front view of pistillate flower, (J) profile view of pistillate flower, (K) fruits. Photos by MND Medina (A) and MAK Naive (B–K).
Begonia olsoniae photographed in Ubatuba, Sao Paulo State
Holotype of Petalidium linifolium T.Anderson (TCD0000793)
Begonia grisea in a riverbed
Leaves and pods of Herrania (left) and Throbroma (right) in cake form
Central corridor of TCD Herbarium
Flowering plant of Begonia margaretiana
Potential thrip on a specimen in TCD herbarium
Pistillate inflorescence of Begonia ferruginea
A fossil and living leaf of the genus Metasequoia
Botanical illustration of Chrysobalanus atlanticus