Possible Christina Dony sheets from BIRM

[mossysal]

It's a bit late now so many have been done but would it be useful to "code name" these sheets with typed labels so that if we eventually find the collector they can be bulk edited, on the same lines as the "Donor Unknown" sheets?
Tom, could you please suggest a name for them?

[Tom Humphrey]

That whole batch of sheets is tagged, so it will be easy to bulk edit them later, once we know the collector (about which I still have no idea). There's no need to explicitly add an equivalent to the 'donor unknown' name. (as far as possible I want to avoid special code names)

A bulk edit would affect any of the batch that don't already have a collector name assigned - so if any sheets don't fit the pattern then it would be helpful if they either have an alternative collector name filled in or if it's a different unknown party then praps post a feedback note on the message board so the sheet gets noticed.

[mossysal]

Thanks, Tom - that all makes sense!

[David Price]

I presume we are talking of those sheets of which these are examples -
http://herbariaunited.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7161
http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/315953/

I have looked at a few dozen of these sheets and many of them bear written comments in a hand which (at the percipient suggestion of Chris Olive) I have identified as Ernest Nelmes (1895-1959) a botanist (librarian) at Kew who was regarded by his contemporaries as an expert on Sedges.

Some of the comments contain facts which could only have been known to the collector and would only have been made by him (or her).

I conclude that the collector is Ernest Nelmes.

[David Price]

A specimen of Carex flava http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/316431/ is accompanied by a letter from Ernest Nelmes to Dr Burges which reads (in part) -

" Daglingworth Rectory, Cirencester, Glos.
[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey]
27 June 1944

Dear Dr Burges,

At last I have finished your Carices and return them herewith.
I have been looking at them in the intervals between collecting and
other jobs. I do not pretend that my treatment of your plants is
final.

Yours sincerely,

E. Nelmes "

The collector's label is of the type I suggested may have been Nelmes's; it is now clear that the collector is Dr Richard Charles L'Estrange Burges (25/11/1900-31/7/1959).

Dr Burges's obituary in BMJ states "He made a number of important contributions to [field botany's] literature, was elected a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, and became chairman of the Birmingham Natural History Society." This last connection may hold a clue to the provenance of other BIRM specimens.

[oldnick]

Is http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/320509/ one of these? (Inula crithmoides from Essex)

[oldnick]

http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/312055/ (Primula x digenea from Essex) has a handwritten label and notes.

[oldnick]

http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/323239/
has an 'illegible' note/name added in ink

[oldnick]

http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/322826/ is inscribed 'M'.

[David Price]

See http://herbariaunited.org/core/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15678#15678