Sad news from the world of botany. The NYT reports that Duke University is tragically shutting down its legendary collection of plants, fungi and algae. The Herbarium, created over a century ago, is a veritable Library of Congress for the plant world, aiding scientists for decades in mapping the evolution of plant life and identifying the (extremely positive??) human impact on the natural world.
“This is such a devastating blow for biodiversity science,” said Erika Edwards, the curator of the Yale Herbarium. “The entire community is simultaneously shocked and outraged.”
Encouragingly, the university is planning to find a new home for the collection rather than destroying it. Less encouragingly, so far there aren’t any takers and only a few places that could house it even if they wanted to. But the silver lining behind all of this is that the devastating human impact on the environment is already extremely well understood and we, as a species, have done shit-all about it. So what’s the loss of a few million ancient plant species between friends hurtling toward their own extinction.
Pour out a tall 40 of anethum graveolens for the Herbarium.