Feedback request: Lotus glaber (210709_515)

[oldnick]

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Specimen #303334

Taxon:	Fabaceae: Lotus glaber Mill. ("Narrow-leaved Bird's-foot-trefoil")
Filed in taxon folder:	Fabaceae: Lotus glaber Mill. ("Narrow-leaved Bird's-foot-trefoil")
Collected by:	Prof John Hutton Balfour
Collection date:	7/1837
Locality:	Great Britain, VC83 Midlothian, Edinburgh, NT27, Canal bank
Institution:	Bolton Museum (BON)
Accession number:	30-07-14348
Image:
fruits/flowers:	mature flowers
Filing note:	Lotus tenuis

Inferred details are marked.

Documented by portwild on 7^th July 2010.

Edit history

date	user	change
02/08/2010	oldnick	Added collector: Prof John Hutton Balfour

N.B. reporting of the edit history is currently fairly unclear and misleading. Most edits made to specimens appear as a pair of 'add' and 'delete' entries, which may not be together in the list. There are also often 'minor' edits, which are made automatically (rather than due to user activity), for example to merge synonym names.

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User comments about this sheet

oldnick wrote

just a guess - could the initials on this label be John Hutton Balfour's? It would be great to have some of his many sheets in photo form for comparison

[Chris Liffen]

I sent the above image to the Herbarium at the Edinburgh Botanic garden, and received a reply this morning confirming that the writing is that of Balfour; it reads as follows "I can confirm that the handwriting in image attached is that of John Hutton Balfour (1808-1884), Regius Keeper of the RBGE and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Edinburgh, from 1845-1879. His writing actually got worse with age as his correspondence and published works increased."
from
Graham Hardy
Serials Librarian
Library
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
20a Inverleith Row
Edinburgh
EH3 5LR
also confirmed by Henry Noltie RBGE
best
Chris

[oldnick]

That is brilliant Chris! I wonder could they do the same for Dr John Percy? http://herbariaunited.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3880 where your article refers to Bot Soc Ed.
I recently found a number of Midlothian specimens I felt sure were his eg
http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/286826/
And our lack of any handwriting samples for Christy or Edward Forbes is another problem I find

[Chris Liffen]

A good idea; let us all know when you get an answer.
Regards
Chris

[oldnick]

e-mail received:

I’m afraid we can not help you with this query. We do not hold specimens for Chris tie Forbes and Edward Forbes. We do hold specimens for a collector by the name of J. Percy (collections from France and Italy 1836), but I can’t look out any of his specimens without having a plant name to search for, as none of those collections have been data-based. Sorry about that.

Best wishes,
Adele Smith, Assistant Curator, Herbarium, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh , 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR. Scotland
Telephone: (+44) (0)131 248 2992 Fax: (+44) (0)131 248 2901

[Chris Liffen]

Some you win ........ Others
chris

[oldnick]

I think it probably proves J P is John Percy though, given the year & foreign lands stated