What happens at the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) Annual Exhibition Meeting?

 

This is the grand entrance to the Natural History Museum in London. The front entrance is German Romanesque architecture style designed by Alfred Waterhouse, a young architect who was called upon when the original architect died. We all fall into our jobs in funny ways, don't we? But I digress...

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland's Annual Exhibition Meeting here in this fabulous building. I should mention that the BSBI recently changed names from the Botanical Society of the British Isles, but managed to hold on to the acronym. Nicely done!

So what happens at an Exhibition meeting? Well, I walked in shyly to find out and was instantly consumed by a small area of tables showcasing botanical information, fun plant identification curiosities, and plant research information. There was also a large book sale going on. When I say consumed, I don't mean by the exhibits themselves, but by the huge masses of very friendly, eclectic botanists of all ages chattering away about the exciting plants they had recently seen, discovered, or happened upon. 

Following the exhibition period, there were talks by the staff and volunteers of the BSBI to discuss recent society happenings, plans, and updates. Then there were talks about how plant geeks like myself can use different venues to get others excited about the green leafy things around us too. We are encouraged to use digital avenues (social media like Facebook, Twitter and blogging) as well as tutoring, guiding walks, and engaging the public in all ways big and small. The highlights were from:

• John Tweddle (Head of the Angela Marmot Centre at the Natural History Museum) who talked about how he is working to engage the public at the museum with hands on science
• Brian Eversham, who is an amazing speaker and loves nature enough that he crosses over from entomology to botany. He can be heard in this video talking about the Wildlife Trusts in Britain:

It was a wonderful way to spend my day and as I was leaving, I paid my dues to be a member for the next year. I'm really inspired by the national botanical society and I can't wait to be kneeling in the mud next to fellow members looking at a new plant.

Still learning after all these years!

Are you still learning new things? In addition to reading a lot more books lately, I've also been picking up a few other things.

Although I now have three nice degrees from esteemed universities - 2 bachelor degrees and a masters - I'm still not done learning. If anything, I find being back in the 9-to-5 working world even more of a learning curve. I'm constantly having new concepts, new technologies, and new policies thrown at me. And my curiosity keeps me looking for exciting new things to learn.

Here are a couple of things I'm learning at the moment:

Plants

Though I'm familiar and fluent in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Florida and Swiss plant species, I'm still learning my British flora. So I'm on a mission to teach myself as much as possible through books, other experts, and time spent outside on my hands and knees with a magnifying glass (loop). There is a test called the Field Identification Skills Certificate through the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland which I can use to test my abilities by next summer.

JavaScript

Being in a technical job now, I need to know more programming and because JavaScript is one of the most commonly used programming languages for software applications (or apps as the kids are calling them these days), API connections and mobile devices, I thought it'd be a good time to brush up on a new language. I've programmed using Visual Basic, Python, and HTML languages before, but this one is new for me. So I'm using an amazing game-like online school called Codecademy to learn JavaScript. It's actually really fun!

It's a fun time to learn new things! Especially with winter coming, I have to resist the urge to curl up and hibernate. So keeping my mind active is a great way to avoid the winter blues. And there's a method to my madness. I'm hoping to someday be able to help build an amazing app or perhaps a new technology to help people discover, explore and identify plant species in the wild. The available apps now don't quite meet my needs!

Are you teaching yourself any new skills at the moment?

Have you ever wondered how plants are grouped and named?

I couldn't describe it to you any better than this video does. It is a beautiful depiction of evolution and how we have worked to understand the evolution of our species based on how species are grouped into Genus, Family, Order, Class, Phylum and Kingdom. And of course, it shows off how things are done at Kew Gardens. What an amazing building!

Enjoy!

Shrooming in London

Recently, I try to get out into the gardens as often as possible. Especially now that it is autumn, the rains have been through, and it is rather warm. The conditions for fungi forays (searching for mushrooms) are perfect! Can you help me identify these? Here are some mushrooms I found around Kew Gardens:

Agaricus sp. (these are related to the button mushrooms you buy in the grocery store!)

Agaricus sp.

Clitocybe inversa

Clitocybe inversa

Clitocybe inversa

Clitocybe inversa

Very nice mushroom with red/orange cap fringed with white feathery scales. Abundant in the area, found growing on mulch. Dark spore print, white fibrous stem without annulus/ring.

same as above

Unknown, very cute small white mushroom cluster on grass

Beautiful blue/green Hygrocybe spp. growing on the leaves beneath a beech tree (Fagus sylvatica).

Same as above. Note white, fibrous stem without ring.

Same as above. Note white/cream spores, adnate gills (gills attached to stem).

A mini forest of unknown little brown mushrooms growing on the mulch beneath Yew trees (Taxus baccata) and pines at Kew Gardens.

Clitocybe sp.

Unknown mushroom. Looks like a mini Ink cap mushroom (Coprinus sp.), but I did not check the gills for ink. It was tiny!!

Agaricus sp. fairy ring

Agaricus sp. Note the annulus/ring around the stem and the dark gills.

Lepiota sp.

And of course, you know I can't resist photographing some wildflowers along the way too.

Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)
Update: This was a fun find - I just learned that the Cornflower is an endangered species and a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species! Wow! Check out more information about it's status. Apparently, this is not so much because of it's distribution (which is quite widespread), but because it is important to the protection of arable lands and therefore, biodiversity.

Bike preparation

And the adventure begins!


View Road Trip Route in a larger map

Today I am leaving for Key Largo, FL where I will begin a 100 mile bicycle ride through the Florida Keys, landing in Key West, FL by Friday. I'm really excited and pretty anxious too. This is something unlike anything I've ever done before. Along the way I will be checking out some of the largest trees in the Keys. This area has a ton of champion trees simply because it's the southernmost part of the United States, plus the semi-tropical habitat allows many different species to thrive here.

I have rigged up my Trek bike and I will be back in touch with you all next week, as I won't be dragging my laptop on the ride.

Cheers and Happy 4th of July to all of you!

New Life

Florida spiderlily (Hymenocallis tridentata) in bloom

Although our sampling season at FAU has been a bit different then I expected, leaving us in the laboratory for 2 months with no way to complete our field sampling, I have been fortunate enough to be in the field for two weeks at the end of May!! Woohoo! We finally got all the stars aligned...funding, weather conditions, and field sampling conditions. So for two weeks I was back on the helicopter flying into the far reaching parts of the Everglades, picking fish and shrimp out of a small mesh seine, marching through muck that is now thigh deep, and generally enjoying myself.

Seining for fish, shrimp, crayfish, insects, etc...the muck in the southern Everglades is much thicker. It looks messy, but it feels like the finest silk oozing through your fingers.

Since it's been such a long time since we've been out, I observed all kinds of new and exciting growth in the swamp.

Native Apple Snail eggs on the stalks of Sagittaria spp.

A dwarf bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) tree that has finally leafed out and now has a luscious green top.

Cypress seed/cone!

A fuzzy airplant inconspicuously growing in the boughs of the cypress.

Sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) inflorescence.
Sawgrass is extremely abundant throughout the Everglades. It has evolved to include saw tooth edges on three sides of it's leaves, making it a virtual paper-cut machine. It can be extremely painful if not handled gently. Some sections of sawgrass are well over my head, and walking through these areas typically involves me launching my entire body up against the wall of sawgrass, matting it down, walking over the matted area, then launching myself at the next wall, rinse and repeat. It's amazing how prolific this plant is! I have a lot of respect for it.

Beautiful Day

Aster flower blooming in the Everglades (January)

Good morning everyone! I'm off to the great swamp again this morning. Mondays have never been on my favorites list, but Mondays in the Everglades are about as good as they could possibly be. I find myself completely at ease with the muck below my boots, water around the calves of my chest waders, and the sun shining down on me. There are no houses or buildings in view. The only sounds I hear are the wind gusting through sawgrass, birds gracefully winging over my sampling point, the occasional desperate horny gator mating call, and of course, the randomly entertaining stories from my coworkers.

What a transition. Mondays in the corporate world had always been so frustrating for me. There were usually some technical difficulties that had occured over the previous weekend that awaited me once I turned on my laptop. There were long organizational meetings used to determine my fate for the week. There was a slight letdown when I found out that I was spending that week working on tasks that confined me to my cubicle where I had no idea if the sun was shining outside, the air was tainted with termite dust and mold (seriously...they did air quality tests in the office to determine why everyone was developing allergies!), and there was the consistent "white noise" of lights, electronics, and air conditioning. Office Space's "case of the Mondays" scene would run through my head about 10 times each Monday. Now, don't get me wrong, my corporate job was amazing and gave me invaluable experiences in the industry. But if you've ever worked in an office you know how Mondays feel. Mondays in the office made Fridays seem like an eternity away.

But being outside changes so many things about my attitude. Even on mornings where I dream of more sleep, the natural crisp air wakes me up immediately and I forget about my bed. Fridays almost seem too close. I check the weather repeatedly to see if there will be rain. For the first time, I find myself hoping for a very dry spring/summer season because it means more suitable field days. I typically spend 4 days a week in the field and one day in the lab. But if there are heavy rains and the South Florida Water Management District decides to hold more water in the northern water conservation areas of the Everglades, our sites are too wet to sample and we spend additional time in the lab. After a weekend in the hustle-bustle, high-stress, high-energy east coast towns of Florida, Monday is a welcome reprieve and a breath of fresh air, literally!

I hope you are having a lovely Monday too! If you are in an office, see if you can find a few minutes to step outside, walk around the block, breathe some fresh air, observe the weather first hand, and take in some natural light.

Caladesi Island Necklace Pod

I recently took a trip to one of Florida's most beautiful and last remaining natural barrier islands with the Suncoast Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society. The island, called Caladesi Island, was voted the nation's best beach in 2008. It was originally settled by a Swiss man named Henry Sharrer in 1883. It is now part of Florida's State Park system and is preserved without development. How lucky! The island is accessible via a short ferry ride from another barrier island to the north called Honeymoon Island.


View Larger Map

While on Caladesi, we observed a large population of a native Florida shrub known as Necklace-Pod (Sophora tomentosa). It is a dense, multi-trunked shrub with beautiful rounded leaves, yellow pea-like flowers, and the neatest seedpods. The day we were on the island, a storm was threatening in the Gulf of Mexico and thankfully stole all the moisture from the air, leaving us with a perfectly sunny and extraordinarily calm day on the island. The plants in the understory of a pine and oak canopy were easily viewed in the sunlight. Although I've seen Necklace-Pod before, I've never noticed the brightly colored, symmetrically aligned orange petioles of the leaves. As you can see below, a petiole is the part that connects the leaf to the stem of the tree. This tiny nuance of the shrub was so beautiful!

The pods look like the picture below. Seeing these pods, I excitedly cracked one open, expecting to see large beanlike fruits. This was not the case. Instead, a flurry of extremely small brown seeds poured out into my hand. Although I have a tendency to try to eat things in the wild, these didn't look so appetizing, so I dropped them to the ground. Good thing! Turns out the seeds are dangerous to eat. They contain an alkaloid called cytisine which causes nausea, vomiting, and acts as a laxative. None of those things sound good on a hike!

The bright yellow flowers bloom in a bright clump toward the end of the branches throughout the year. Apparently, they are well liked by many insects including this Monarch butterfly we saw feeding madly on these sweet flowers. The Monarch butterfly populations are on their fall migration pattern to Mexico where they will spend the winter. This individual wanted one last succulent taste of Florida before moving on.


I hope you too are enjoying all the wonderful plant and wildlife happenings of this fall!

How was your day?

How was your day? Here's how mine was...

I'll explain those last three soon!

Beauty in the Glades

I recently had the privilege of stepping foot into the amazing part of Florida called the Everglades. When my friends asked why I was so excited about the opportunity to go camping and hiking with the Sierra Club in the Everglades, I explained it like this; for an environmentalist/nature lover, the Everglades are on our list of the 7 Wonders of the World. And it's so close to me that I'd be a fool to miss the chance to go see this amazing place before humans disturb it even more.

Part of our adventure took us through the Picayune Strand State Forest. We had a beautiful hike through an area that is very obviously wet during the rainy season (probably with about 2 feet of standing water) that is currently bone dry. There we saw bald cypress, pond cypress, air plants/bromeliads, hatpins, and so many more beautiful plants and lots of birds as well. Here are a few pictures from just this one 3-mile hike. Oh, and another fun fact...there were two panther cubs just born in this park (unfortunately or fortunately we did not encounter them)!

Cypress leaves emerging

Hatpin - this one looks like it grew around another plant...check out that squirrely stem!

Bromeliad hanging/hovering on the site of a cypress tree.