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Tag Archives: Plant identification

Dr M welcomes a new MSc student cohort to the joys of botany!

Dr M says: It’s that time of year again! Last year’s University of Reading MSc Plant Diversity students (class of 2016 pictured above) are just about finishing their dissertations and we are already wishing them well as they get ready to move on to botanical pastures new, while the class of 2017 are soon to be on their way to Reading for a new exciting
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Dr M’s 52% leaves quiz – the result!

Did you have a go at Dr M’s antidote to Brexit 52% leaves quiz? If not try it out here and come back to check the answers below. Below are the images of the 52 leaves with common names (check the table below for the Latin names and the plant families). Dr M says: How did you do? There is a diverse range of native and non native
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Forget Brexit, here is Dr M’s 52% leaves quiz!

OK, so amidst all the hype, the story telling, the agony and the extacy, it’s great to know that we can still rely on plants to pull us through! So in the spirit of Brexit, Dr M offers his 52% leaves quiz, fifty-two of the finest British, European and International leaves for your botanical edification and welcome distraction! These 52 leaves were all found in
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Dr M talks more rubbish: brownfield botany answers!

Did you have a go at Dr M’s brownfield botany quiz? If not try it out here and come back to check the answers below. Post-industrial brownfield land is home to a host of colonising species both native and non-native species.  Amongst the non-natives are many non-invasive naturalised species as well as some more pernicious alien invasive species, several of which are listed on Schedule 9 of
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Dr M talks rubbish!

Perish the thought that Dr M would ever talk rubbish, but recently a survey in the Dagenham area lead to this close encounter of a post-industrial kind, replete with the results of endless fly-tipping, accompanied by a diversity of ruderal plants which you commonly find colonising such places, as well as one or two less common! Below, Dr M shares images of twenty of the
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Travelodge botany quiz!

Dr M says: Botany is everywhere, yes even at Travelodge! Dr M had the pleasure of staying at a Travelodge near Crewe recently. Nice comfy bed and a pleasant view across a meandering stream to a fragment of wet woodland with Salix fragilis (Crack-willow). But be warned: the view will be quite different once summer approaches, but more of that later! Dr M had
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Happy St Patricks Day! But what is Shamrock?

Happy St Patrick’s Day! According to Irish legend, the druids in Ireland looked at the Shamrock as a sacred plant because its leaves formed a triad and the number three (or “tree” in Irish*) was a mystical number in the Celtic religion. But what, exactly and botanically, is Shamrock? Is it one of these? Or these? Well according to a 1988 survey of Irish people
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Possibly the youngest botanist in the country!

Last year Dr M posted botanical selfies here from two young botanists, George Garnett and Ryan Clark, this year sees the posting of a selfie from Reuben Nebbett-Blades who at just twelve years old could easily qualify as the youngest botanist in the country! And he’s certainly a dedicated field botanist this young chap, into the serious groups of plant groups like sedges and
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Dr M’s autumn fruits quiz!

The clocks have gone back, autumnal colour delights the eye and the smells of autumn abound!  High time then for the latest in Dr M’s special series of botany quizzes – the autumn fruit quiz! 2015 seems to have been an excellent year for autumn fruits of a myriad varieties and so here for your autumnal delight and delectation Dr M has lovingly and selflessly gathered
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Learn sedge ID with Dr M at SLBI London – 18th October 2015!

OK, Listen up plant lovers and botanophiles alike!  Stuff like this really doesn’t happen that often, I mean, when did you last have a chance to attend a Dr M Botanical  course?  Like never, or at least oh so rarely!  We are talking hen’s teeth, we really are! So, come on down to London town and join the botanical love and joy at Dr M’s
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