Finally some fossils.

Today I went to the royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh to get some fresh air away from the city. I, of course, visited the fossil tree; Here it is in close up - Pitus withami a Carboniferous swamp forrest tree. I was found locally at Craigleith Quarry which is now a shopping centre - but I may visit the site and see if any of the outcrop is still exposed. Here it is in pride of place in front of the glasshouses.

Beside it is some less spectacular root. This is Lepidodendron. I didn't see any note of where it was found but the colour suggests it was a different locality. This remind me of my plan to visit the fossil grove in Glasgow. Its never been very highly advertised - in fact when I lived an hours dive form Glasgow I didn't know about it (I wasn't so heavily interested in fossils at the time). Here is the only official website I can find. If I can find the train fare this is defiantly on the list for this summer!

There are also some ‘living fossils’ on display with a great collection of monkey puzzle trees on the other side of the greenhouses.

Here's a view I was delighted to find - you can see across to Cartlon Hill and Arthur's seat.

As I was leaving I saw the most fantastic but in this Delphinium I had to photograph it.