The Great British Liverwort Hunt – collecting wild accessions for molecular biology research while engaging the public

During the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, outreach activities of universities were significantly perturbed. The Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) outreach project for the Cambridge festival in 2021 was therefore a fully online project, which asked people from across the mainland of the United Kingdom to send in plant samples of Marchantia polymorpha, and Lunularia cruciata. The samples were, upon arrival, established into axenic culture for use in research. Here, we deposit the names and locational data of the lines established in axenic culture for the wider use of the research community. Out of 76 samples received, 68 were successfully established in sterile tissue culture. This dataset also includes an analysis of the sex of the M. polymorpha accessions.