Our Winter Talks take place at 7.30pm on a Wednesday of each month from December to March on Zoom.

Rebecca Hilgenhof, Postgraduate Programme Coordinator at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, has spent the past 4 years constructing an online multi-access identification key to the mega-diverse genus Solanum (1,242 spp. total) of the nightshade (Solanaceae) family using the software Xper3. The key currently covers over 60% (572 spp.) of species including all non-spiny species and crop wild relatives of the cultivated tomato and potato along with spiny species from Africa and Asia, which includes the cultivated eggplant. Each of the 52 morphological character (incl. geography) assessed in the Solanum key and their states are explained in written and with photographic plates making the key user-friendly for expert and non-expert users.

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