Dr M says: It’s always a pleasure to introduce a young botanist to these pages and it is a total delight to introduce Joshua Ajowele who joined the MSc Plant Diversity at the University of Reading in September 2019. Joshua is one of those special people who walks into the room and immediately makes an impact, he is a gifted scientist and botanist and
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If you love plants and especially house plants then the @mygreenstudy project is for you as it’s all about houseplants! My Green Study is a student-led initiative for those who share an appreciation and interest in houseplants. It has recently launched Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages aiming to create a community of fellow houseplant enthusiasts! The @MyGreenStudy team is led by Dr Alastair Culham and includes a team of
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Dr M has been busy enjoying imparting botanical wisdom to his latest cohort of MSc students on the MSc Plant Diversity and MSc SISS at University of Reading with his signature module Vegetation Survey and Assessment which started early October. The module spans 20 week through autumn and spring terms sand by week 4 of the autumn term Dr M’s students have been introduced
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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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Quite recently Dr M was fascinated to discover that the UK Botanical University Challenge, originally devised by Dr M and John Warren back in 2016, has a very esteemed tropical precedent. Dr M was chatting to new PhD student Mr. Nattanon Meeprom working with Alastair Culham in the School of Biological Sciences at University of Reading. Very soon Dr M was amazed to learn
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It’s time to revisit this Dr M classic – the Twelve Days of Botanical Christmas! (First broadcast in December 2014!)
YOUR STARTER FOR TEN: The first ever UK Botanical University Challenge took place at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, hosted by James Wong, on 10th March 2016 you can read more about it here. FINGERS ON BUZZERS! We are now getting very close to the second Challenge which takes place at the University of Reading on Wednesday 20th February 2019 and is the
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It’s no secret that Dr M is raving potty about Poaceae so imagine his delight when he saw the new and wonderful @Wildflowerhour also getting into the Poaceous groove with their #grasschallenge! This time of year (June) is truly wondrous for Poaceae (but not hay fever sufferers!) as the vegetative shoots spring into action and come alive with flowering inflorescences bearing those strange yet magical
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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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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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