Yes, don’t choke on your cornflakes, it’s me (Viv) writing a blog post at last.
So what have I been up to?
Well recently I’ve been researching an old lichen collector called James Morrison Crombie. Born near Aberdeen in around 1831. Crombie, like many collectors of his era, was a member of the clergy. He spent most of his career based in London but made frequent trips back to Scotland where he discovered many new and unusual species.
Although Crombie’s collections are well known to most lichenologists, information about where and when he collected is scattered. So I’ve been trying to bring it all together! As most of Crombie’s collections are in the Natural History Museum lichen herbarium a trip down to London was in order.
Tempted by the lure of a cheap megabus (rather than spending a fortune on the train) I embarked on an epic 9 and a half hour journey. The journey was fine in the end and I got a double seat to myself and plenty of reading done. It was nice to be greeted by a good friend and a rather marvellous pub when I got there.
The Natural History Museum is vast! It seemed to take an age to even get to the herbarium and it was weird to walk up dark back staircases and then through the bustle and grandness of the public museum and back into a dark passageway again. It felt like an amazing privilege to be behind the scenes and the public gaze and where so many great minds have buzzed away over the years.
The lichen herbarium has old fashioned wooden doors adding to the sense of history.
The specimen folders were a treasure trove of crombie collections
And as a bonus there were also a number of lovely little paintings of lichen fruits in section by Isaac Caroll, a contemporary of Crombie’s.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience, the herbarium is well organised and the eminent scientists resident there couldn’t have been more helpful and friendly if they tried. One thing that I have noticed about lichenolgists so far is their great enthusiasm for welcoming new people to the flock. There really is a great sense of community among people of this particular specialism.
So, now I’m back it’s time to make some sense of all the information I’ve collected. I can’t wait to see the results!
Adios amigos
Viv x
(P.S. I wouldn’t recommend trying to get an overnight bus back from London. That was a different story entirely!)