The earliest known plant list for the whole of Moray is dated 1794. It is a list of 296 species made at Innes House, Urquhart, by an unknown collector, contained within a small leather bound book.
A portion of the Innes House plant list. It includes many garden plants and herbs, as well as some wild plants which were almost certainly used for culinary purposes. Two of those shown are Myrica gale (Scotch Gale or Scotch Myrtle) and Ligusticum scoticum (Scotch Lovage). The former may have been used as a flavouring agent for ale; the Lovage was used as a salad or vegetable.
The book itself contains in addition a number of pressed plant specimens. Although some of these are obviously from gardens, and there is no written data with the specimens themselves - other than the plant name - the list and specimens are nevertheless very interesting.
Pressed specimen of Sedum acre (Yellow Stonecrop or
Wall Pepper) from the Innes House herbarium. This herbarium is curious
in that it is bound into a leather covered book, rather than being on separate
sheets of paper. Below is a contemporary photograph of the same plant. It is
common in many coastal areas, particularly near the mouth of the River Spey; it
also grows in waste ground on some of the industrial estates in
Elgin.
