Biggest ever gathering of botanists in Scotland takes place this weekend

There has been such a huge demand for tickets to this weekend's Scottish Botanists' Conference at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh that organiser Jim McIntosh has had to close bookings.

The conference, previously known as the Scottish Annual Meeting, was rebranded this year to flag what it's all about more effectively - there are lots of talks, hence the 'conference' bit, and it's aimed at all botanists interested in the wild flowers of Scotland, whatever their skill level or affiliation.

Jim took to Twitter yesterday to share some impressive stats about the conference. Apparently it will boast:

• 175 delegates
• 35 exhibits or posters
• 9 speakers
• 7 mini-workshops

You can download the abstracts from the Scottish Botanists' Conference webpage, where you can also see the programme of speakers.

If you are not one of the 175 lucky delegates who managed to book a space, you will still be able to follow the action on Twitter by clicking on the #ScotBotanistsConf hashtag.

Jeff Waddell, BSBI's joint County Recorder for Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire, was on Twitter earlier this week to share the image on the left of the plant specimens he is taking to the conference. They are all recent new or second county records. 

We'll bring you more news as it comes in from Scotland's biggest ever gathering of botanists!