Last week, I met Hydrolea spinosa (photo) at Cambridge Botanic Garden. Tomorrow, I'll hear a talk on taxonomy of Hydroleaceae at Edinburgh Botanic Garden. The family has 1 genus & 11 species. Part of Solanales. This species doesn't even have its own Wikipedia page :( @cubotanicgarden.bsky.social

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Not a typical British front garden!

A nail biting Botanical University Challenge semi-final between Reading and Plymouth. Plymouth won on the fourth tiebreak question. Congratulations Plymouth!

Botanical University Challenge Semi final 1 is about to start. www.youtube.com/live/bX_sdw1... Follow luve on You Tube #Botany #Plants

Drimia/Squilla coming in to flower in Gozo. It amazes me how plants can invest such energy into flowering in the peak dry season. #geophyte #Asparagaceae #Bulb

Visited Comino today. Pancratium maritimum in bloom. My first ever experience of a rubbish bin dedicated to waste pineapples. Instagram craze of pineapple based cocktails on Comino, Blue Lagoon. No idea why. There is a somewhat whimsical 'history' of the craze here lovinmalta.com/opinion/sati...

🌱🌾🌍🍄🌺🌿🧪What is it actually like to work and study for a PhD degree? Read one woman's account in latest newsletter from Botanical University Challenge #BUC2025. @drmgoeswild.bsky.social @thebotanist.bsky.social

As a long-time Cyclamen researcher, this is my first encounter with a cheese named Cyclamen! Looking forward to tasting it!

UK heatwaves led to hosepipe bans across the country. With limited watering opportunities, which garden plants should we prioritise? @thebotanist.bsky.social writes for @theconversation.com: theconversation.com/hosepipe-ban... 🧪🌍🌱💧

More on droughted gardens theconversation.com/hosepipe-ban...

What happens when you photograph a plant next to a mooring bollard and ask AI to identify it? You get told you've photographed a mushroom. What i was siming for was Carduus tenuiflorus. Context is crucial.

doi.org/10.1002/ppp3... out today! It's great to write about an area of #Botany that is growing. @seburbanbotany.bsky.social @herbarium.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @botsocamerica.bsky.social

Are you looking for a PhD post for September 2025? Fieldwork, computational & molecular biology skills will be developed in this project to understand climate change & speciation. Applications by 20th January.

#PhD available for UK student on phylogeny of paleotropical #Acanthaceae with @iaindarbyshire1.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Start September 2025, applications open now.

IAPT Grants www.iaptglobal.org/grants

Botany PhD available via CROCUS DLP. www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Open to UK & overseas applicants with interest in botany, evolution, genetics.

The HTA just released the latest Unlocking Green Growth reports - It makes me feel good to be a Botanist! Lots here of relevance to botanists and environmental scientists. Our University of Reading alumnus Alistair Griffiths has been closely involved in much of this work. hta.org.uk/policy/resea...

It's UN #WorldToiletDay. As usual, plants got there first -several Nepenthes (tropical pitcher plants) adapted to benefit from poo. N. lowii, N. rajah & N. macrophylla absorb rodent fecal matter while N. hemsleyi eats bat poo. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... academic.oup.com/aob/article/...

Peat free cultivation of Sarracenia - trials at Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley. Seen on Saturday. It looks as if Schnell's 1970s recommendation to use Sphagnum still holds true!

🌱🌍🌿🍄🌾 In Defense of Plants is a great podcast from Matt Candeias. Interviews with conservation biologists, lab scientists - all with fascinating stories about plants. Based in USA but includes plants and topics of world-wide interest. indefenseofplants.com

Currently at #MonocotsVII in San Jose, Costa Rica. Had nearly a whole day of mycoheterotrophs - Thismia & Corallorhiza among others.

Magnolia denudata (#Magnoliaceae) is another beetle-pollinated species. The pollinators are large #Coleoptera (#Scarabaeidae). The thermal image shows that the stamens & carpels heat up. AOX respiration generates the heat. Thermal image from bit.ly/3S58s0V #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Happy bissextile day 🙂

Each nut of Hernandia sp. (#Hernandiaceae) is subtended by a white, cup-shaped bract. When the fruits drop, the bracts act like boats, ferrying the fruits away. Once in New Guinea, I waded through a shallow pool covered by rafts of tiny Hernandia boats. #dispersal #hydrochory #Botany 🌾🧪

Congratulations to Tomos Jones, University of Reading, Biology for passing his PhD on gardens as a source of invasive plants. #gardenescapers #invasives @herbarium.bsky.social @drmgoeswild.bsky.social

It's National Houseplant Appreciation Day. This Cymbidium is in flower in my conservatory after a summer in the garden. I'll make sure I appreciate it! @drmgoeswild.bsky.social

I am *thrilled* to finally announce that our department is hiring an Evolutionary Biologist. We are esp looking genetic/genomic expertise, and those who can help us build a more equitable biology community at UCSB. Please apply by Jan 15! recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02635 #unicornjob

🌷MAKE A DIFFERENCE🌷 We have FIVE @The_RHS Senior Management roles available in Learning and Engagement! 🌻 Head of National Community Programmes 🌺 Head of Public Engagement 🪻 Head of Learning ⚘️ Head of Professional Programmes 🪷 Head of Engagement Development Info 👇

Interested in a postdoc fellowship using the amazing herbarium collections of University of Cambridge Herbarium? Cambridge Plant Sciences is organising an open day on Feb 7th 2024 to support applicants. Send your statement of interest by Dec 1st 2023. More info: plantsci.cam.ac.uk/news/departmen…

How do gardeners define invasive plant species? doi.org/10.1016/j.en... Our survey suggests gardeners have quite a sophisticated approach. 🌱 🌿

University of Reading is lucky enough to have an original Herefordshire Pomona. The 'Carrion Apple' pictured here was so called because the oldest tree was used to hang meat for dogs. Also known as 'Kempley Red' which sounds rather nicer. 🙂🌱🌿 @konyveskalman.bsky.social

@ryanclarkecology.bsky.social welcome to Bluesky!

Attention history of botany fans: there’s a fiction novel with Michel Adanson as lead character! A great read. www.nytimes.com/2023/09/14/b...

Important new study about gypsum ecosystems in Campeche, Yucatán Peninsula, México—a country that never ceases to amaze. Gypsum in tropical forests, with two likely gypsophile plants as well, including a Lantana! doi.org/10.1017/S026...

We hope this probeset for target capture phylogenetics in the coffee ☕️ family is useful to others working with #Rubiaceae. We tested it with newly sequenced data in two distantly related clades (Palicoureeae + Psychotrieae, and Hillieae) and bioinformatically across #Rubiaceae.

I've got a research interest in Cyclamen so was intrigued to see this Djix cultivar in a garden centre this morning. The petals stick out rather than being reflexed giving an attractive contrast between petals and sepals. schoneveld-breeding.com/en/on-displa... 🌱 #Botany

More from the artists Marchand and Sobsey on #ThisEarthenDoor @mobotmuseum.bsky.social #plants #art #anthotype #EmilyDickinson www.stltoday.com/life-enterta...

Coelogyne trinervis is flowering in my greenhouse. The smell has the amine odour of chestnut flowers. Not one to bring in to the house! 🌱 #Botany #orchid

Cyclamen confusum (Grey-Wilson) Culham, Jope, P.Moore- I've seen this in cultivation, DNA sequenced it but this week was the first time in the wild. powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:ls... Sirikari Gorge maps.app.goo.gl/Da3Pt46JYedL...

Cyclamen graecum leaves today in Crete. Leaves from just one population! 🌱 The flowers are fairly uniform in mid to light pink.

Although #Aspidistra spp. are similar in vegetative morphology, floral morphology is off the charts. This plate is 9 years old & doesn’t include the dozens of species described since 2014. Source: Tillich, H.-J. 2014. Taiwania 59(1): 1–8. DOI: 10.6165/tai.2014.59.1 #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

#Wildflowerhour still in Crete - so much to report! Adiantum capillus-veneris, Ephedra foeminea, Crithmum maritimum, Phoenix theophrasti. 🌱

#wildflowerhour in Crete this week. Narcissus deficiens, Prospero autumnale, Cyclamen graecum subsp. candicum, Biarum davisii. All seen in flower today. Collections for @herbarium.bsky.social. 🌱🌿

Beautiful! 😍

Spectacular views while botanising in Zaros gorge & Rouvas forest today. On the way up everyone we passed said "it's really windy up there." It was! Crete has so much scenery they've had to fold the landscape to fit it all in😁 🌱🌿 #botany

Prospero autumnale agg. ✅ Muscari comosum (Leopoldia comosa)✅ Drimia maritima ✅ Sterbergia lutea subsp. lutea ✅ Cyclamen creticum ❎ - it's spring flowering but hoping for leaves. Above Zaros lake, Crete. 🌱🌿 #botany Fieldwork for @herbarium.bsky.social

So nice to find a portrait of botanist Margaret Bradshaw on today's Guardian website. A true legend who earlier this year published a lovely book on the Teesdale flora. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Did the olive trunk inspire the ancient pillar design? Near the Temple of Apollo, Gortina. #Fieldwork #Botany 🌱 Drimia maritima in plenty around here. @herbarium.bsky.social

Today's botanical treats in Crete. Drimia numidica, Muscari comosum (Leopoldia comosa), Prospero autumnale agg. X2 Part of research @herbarium.bsky.social on climate change and Mediterranean plant evolution. @konyveskalman.bsky.social