Terms of Use

The RHS collections featured on this site are cared for by RHS Libraries and the RHS Herbarium (the 1851 Royal Commission Herbarium).

By continuing on this website you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions of use. Please see full terms and conditions for use of this website.

Content Warning

The RHS acknowledges that historical records shared on this site may contain, in their content or catalogue descriptions, terminology, which is inappropriate, outdated, offensive or pejorative. Where such language is employed in the original documents, these have been reproduced in the catalogue using direct quotes from the source material and, where possible or relevant, by including a modern, non-offensive term, although it is recognised that this practice may also be problematic. Please see the RHS Heritage Interpretation Principles for further details.

The original terms used in the collections have been retained in the interest of historical and botanical accuracy, and do not reflect the views and values of, nor are they condoned by, the RHS. We welcome feedback about the language in this catalogue and will consider all requests for changes. Please contact [email protected] or [email protected].

Image Usage terms

The material featured on this site is primarily intended for non-commercial use including private study, teaching, learning and research. Commercial use of information and images published on this site will require permission and potentially payment.

You can view and use content provided that its use is permitted by the usage terms and license indicated alongside the content:

Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0) - content with this license is for information purposes and/or reproduction for personal/academic use only, and not for commercial use. This license permits reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, for non-commercial purposes only.
Non-commercial use with attribution permitted, no derivatives permitted (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) - content with this license is for information purposes and/or reproduction for personal/academic use only, and not for commercial use. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form and for non-commercial purposes only.
Public Domain (CC0 1.0) - content with this license is available for commercial use.

Any reused content must acknowledge the RHS or other identified contributors, as authors of the item, as indicated in the credit lines displayed alongside the content.

Reproduction of images for publication

The RHS may charge fees for digital files that are used for editorial or commercial purposes or for high resolution files suitable for professional print reproduction.

If you would like to reproduce images for the purpose of publication, please contact the RHS Lindley Library ([email protected]) regarding library images or the Herbarium ([email protected]) regarding herbarium specimens with the following information provided in your email:

Your full name, email and address/institution
An outline of the research project and/or use of the images
Details of the planned publication in which the images are intended to be published
List of the images to be reproduced
Please also confirm that you will accept our full terms and conditions

All permissions granted are non-exclusive, and a new application must be made for any further publication of the image.

Permission to reproduce Herbarium specimens is further dependent on full acceptance of the following additional terms and conditions:

Specimens are to be cited with a URL link to the relevant page on this website, and the date [day month year] on which they were accessed
Images are only to be used by the applicant in research papers and presentations, uncropped, unless specific permission has been given
It is expected that the herbarium will be provided with either a copy of the publication, or a link to the online publication where our image(s) appear.