Decipher our collections,
discover hidden archives
and contribute to knowledge

This series of expeditions will explore the Euphorbiaceae, commonly known as the Spurge family. Found in all continents except Antartica, it contains 234 genera and over 6500 species. It displays a large a variety of forms from trees to small herbaceous plants, climbers and succulents that could easily be mistaken for true cacti! Members of the family are used for food and medicine and the common name ‘Spurge’ comes from the latin ‘espurge’ due to the purgative effects of some species.  

This expedition will focus on collections made in the North America region (Herbarium region 16).

In 2021 we began to increase our in-house digitisation capacity with the aim of completing the digitisation of its 3 million specimens in a 5-year programme (2021-2025). The next series of expeditions seek to complement this body of work by enriching the basic online catalogue records produced by the in-house digitisation team with specimen label data.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s extensive Herbarium numbers nearly three million specimens representing half to two thirds of the world's flora. It is considered a leading botanical collection, and every year many researchers from around the world visit both online and in person to study our specimens.