The carpological collection is a complement to Smith's herbarium, which has plants collected by Smith and donated to him by important naturalists of the late 18th and early 19th century: Carl Linnaeus the Younger (son of Carl Linnaeus), Robert Brown, John Ellis and Joseph Dalton Hooker, amongst others. It contains many type specimens. The carpological collection contains the parts of a plant that could not easily be pressed on a herbarium sheet: seeds, fruits and branches.

In this podcast Dr Maria Zytaruk explores the seed packets of this collection and explains how it adds an extra layer to the historical understanding of 18th–19th century botany. Further reading about this collection can be found here: https://www.linnean.org/the-society/news/2018/05/02/2-may-2018-conserving-the-carpological-collection

Speaker: Dr. Maria Zytaruk

Produced by: Ross Ziegelmeier