Imagining symbiosis: science, art and imagination (oh, and lichens too!)

Dr M would like to share some news from the science-art interface: Imagining Science is a living Science-art collaboration which all started in 2013 as a collaborative art exhibition for Reading Science Week and National Science and Engineering Week. The first project comprised the work of three science-artists addressing the way art and science investigate the world around us, and how imaginative thinking contributes to science and art in
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Fieldwork Learning Showcase Event 2013: Dr M promotes video for plant ID!

Dr M continues his quest for the ultimate plant identification video at the Enhancing Fieldwork Learning Showcase Event 2013 –  at the Field Studies Council in Betws-y-Coed, in the glorious Snowdonia National Park. Dr M’s  presentation on Saturday afternoon reminds the Showcase Event audience that the ability to identify common plants is a key skill needed by graduates entering the conservation, ecology and environmental consultancy sectors.
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Dr M’s Top Twenty Flowering Plant Families: Brassicaceae

Dr M moves on to this very characteristic family which is very easy to recognise – if you keep your wits about you and follow the looking and listening rules of eXtreme botany!   Brassicaceae – the Cabbage family – includes more than 330 genera and 3,700 species World-wide, including many important crop plants


Common British Plants: the top 30 vascular plants – Urticaceae

Which are the commonest plant species in Britain? Recently Dr M has investigated the 30 most common British plant species based on data in the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora and the Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. The top 30 include species from 10 plant families including nine of the top twenty plant families.


Green is the colour of botany!

Dr M says: “what’s not to love about green?!” Of course plants yield many more colours than green: flowers, seeds, bark, roots and fruits come in all colours of the rainbow, but green surely is the staple colour of botany! Mosses, liverworts, ferns, conifers and flowering plants all in this seasons best shades of green!  Dr M of course only has to think of
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Common British Plants: the top 30 vascular plants – Juncaceae

Which are the commonest plant species in Britain? Recently Dr M has investigated the 30 most common British plant species based on data in the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora and the Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. The top 30 include species from 10 plant families including nine of the top twenty plant families. The 30 commonest species includes eight species from the Poaceae, seven
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Kisses from the last night of the BBC Proms!

Dr M’s twin loves, botany and music, find a fitting union at the last night of the BBC Proms tonight at the Royal Albert Hall, London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Chorus all conducted by the wonderful Marin Alsop


Common British Plants: the top 30 vascular plants – Polygonaceae

Which are the commonest plant species in Britain? Recently Dr M has investigated the 30 most common British plant species based on data in the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora and the Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. The top 30 include species from 10 plant families including nine of the top twenty plant families. The 30 commonest species includes eight species from the Poaceae, seven
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Common British Plants: the top 30 vascular plants – Plantaginaceae

Which are the commonest plant species in Britain? Recently Dr M has investigated the 30 most common British plant species based on data in the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora and the Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. The top 30 include species from 10 plant families including nine of the top twenty plant families. The 30 commonest species includes eight species from the Poaceae, seven
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Common British Plants: the top 30 vascular plants – Ranunculaceae

Which are the commonest plant species in Britain? Recently Dr M has investigated the 30 most common British plant species based on data in the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora and the Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. The top 30 include species from 10 plant families including nine of the top twenty plant families. The 30 commonest species includes eight species from the Poaceae, seven
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