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Fascination of Plants Day

Fascination with smelly plants!

Fascination of Plants Day is an International celebration of plants, it is a whole series of events all about plants which happens every second year.  The aim is to get as many people as possible around the world fascinated by plants and enthused about the importance of plant science for agriculture, horticulture, forestry and the production of plant-based non-food products such as paper, timber,
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So, Why are plants smelly then?

As part of the University of Reading British Science Week outreach activities Dr M and colleagues Oli Wilson, Alex Dean and Katie Cooper hosted an event for local families addressing this aromatic question!  As Dr M pointed out to the attendees, this event also forms part of Reading Botany 2019, a year-long series of events celebrating 50 years botany masters teaching at Reading and over
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Why are plants smelly?

Ever trod on a plant, caught a whiff of its smell and wondered: why do plants smell? Well, wonder no more, Dr M has just the thing for you: the University of Reading “Why are plants smelly” outreach project – part of University of Reading’s (UoR) contribution to British Science Week (March 2019) and 5th International “Fascination of Plants Day” (May 2019). These events also
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Dr M reaching out to the next generation with plants!

Following their successful visit to the University of Reading campus for Fascination of Plants day 2017, Oxford Road Community School and their teacher Mr Lyford invited Dr M to contribute to the school science club. The theme was classification and Dr M took in three bin bags of plants gathered from the University campus and invited the pupils to think about how we can group
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That was FoPD (and #BotanyLive), that was!

After the success of our monkey puzzle Fascination of Plants Day two years ago (check the link here) Dr M and colleagues have done it again, they ran another Fascination of Plants Day event at the University of Reading in the beautiful Harris Garden and tropical glass house. Plus, a first for 2017, they took part in the first ever #BotanyLive event!  Organised by Anne
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Fascination of Plants Day at University of Reading – 12 things plants do for us!

The twelve images from Dr M’s previous post celebrating International Fascination of Plants Day 2017 (here) represent twelve of the things plants do for us and Dr M spells these out below. For sure, there are many more than twelve things plants do for us, but this is a great starting point for appreciating the fascination and importance of plants in all our lives
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Fascination of Plants Day: How many plants are there?

For Fascination of Plants Day 2017 Dr M and colleagues at University of Reading are hosting local school children to come and discuss the fascination of plants on the award-winning green campus at Reading. We have planned three tasks to help explore plants and their fascination first hand: How many plants are there? What’s in the Tropical supermarket? What plants have you used today?
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Getting ready for FoPD: How many plants have you eaten this lunchtime?

As we prepare for Fascination of Plants Day next Thursday 18th May at University of Reading, we ask “how many plants have you used today?”   To get you thinking, here’s a botanical culinary conundrum: How many plants (and derivatives) do you think there are in Dr M’s Chicken curry & rice? You will need to think and hypothesize, they are by no mean all
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Fascination of Plants Day at University of Reading – What do plants do for us?

Did you know it’s “Fascination of Plants Day” (FoPD) on Thursday 18th May? Fascination of Plants Day is the International Day for everyone to celebrate the fascination and beauty of the plant world and the importance of plants in our lives and for the sustainability of the biosphere! 2017 finds the fourth international Fascination of Plants Day launched under the umbrella of the European
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Dr M’s little spring flower quiz – the answers!

Done the quiz? Now here’s the answers and some botanical stories about these lovely spring wild flowers: 1. Blue bell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) – probably the most familiar of these seven. Did you know that Britain is home to about half of the World’s bluebell population? Did you know its sap was used to glue feathers onto arrows in the Middle Ages and to stiffen
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