Botanical Slide Library

We have approximately 48,000 slides (transparencies) in the main botanical collection. The majority were taken in the field by photographers working in-house and cover all aspects of botany such as vascular plants, lichens, mosses and woodlands.

We have also been fortunate to receive the collections of some well known photographers, two of the most important are:

Francis Rose

A renowned botanist, ecologist, teacher and author. He particularly pioneered the study of mosses, liverworts, lichens and filmy ferns. His collection contains some 10,000 slides.

Idris Bowen

A well known Cardiff photographer who specialised in macro-photography and his images include insects as well as plants. His collection numbers about 4,000 slides. Many of his images have been used in exhibitions over the years.

 

We also have a range of smaller collections donated to us by a variety of botanists over the years. The photography archive held by the museum also contains many images including botanical prints taken from some of the artwork held in the department and plant fossils in the geological collections.

For further information on this collection contact Chris Cleal.