A centuries old collection of more than 10,000 dried and pressed plant specimens is soon to be digitised for the benefit of students at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Gloucestershire. With the help of funding from Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society and the university’s own Cirencester Fund, volunteers will join students and staff in photographing, recording and cataloguing the RAU’s delicate paper-mounted records. The majority of specimens date back to a period between the 1820s and 1920s, with some later additions between 1950 and 1970. Almost all were collected in and around Gloucestershire. Dr Kelly Hemmings, associate professor in ecology at the RAU, is heading up the project. Visit Hampshire Biz News for bright, upbeat and positive business news from the county “Natural science organisations are recognising the immense value of historic herbarium collections for tackling current environmental issues”, she said. “Our specimens give the location and date at which they were collected helping us to piece together patterns of biodiversity change over the last two centuries. “The research possibilities are endless – branching out into climate change, …