Dr M continues his quest for botanical videos… This time Dr M has come across the Test Tube videos which includes a series about trees in Britain by Markus Eichhorn a botanist from Nottingham University.

The Ranunculaceae takes its name from Rana (the latin name for the frog) due to the aquatic nature of many Ranunculaceae, e.g. The Spearworts (Ranunculus lingua and R.flammula), the Water-crowfoots (Ranunculus spp.), Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris).  But there are also terrestrial species such as Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa), Pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris), the climber Old Man’s Beard (Clematis vitalba) and the Hellebores (Helleborus spp.). Ranunculaceae are
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Juncaceae is the rush family, in Britain most commonly represented by Juncus (True Rushes) and Luzula (Wood Rushes). The common name “Rush” has been used for many unrelated plants of wet places with stiff, upright stems or leaves, such as  Sweet Rush (Acorus, Acoraceae), Flowering Rush (Butomus), Scouring Rush (Equisetum, Equisetaceae the Horsetails!) and Bullrush (Typha spp., Typhaceae) also the name Bullrush has been
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“A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet”.  If we delve into this phrase, from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it is saying more important is what something IS not what it is named! A bit of a snub to taxonomy really but we can cope!  

If you have read Dr M’s eXtreme botany manifesto you will know that Dr M is an advocate of video as a medium for teaching botany, for example learning species identification. Dr M is discussing these issues at INTECOL in London today and in September at the Enhancing Fieldwork Learning Showcase Event.

And so Dr M has at last arrived at the Cyperaceae, not that he has been avoiding it, Dr M finds the Cyperaceae a very fascinating family indeed.  It is just that Dr M has been rather preoccupied with the Poaceae recently.  This post redresses the balance ever so slightly and in the future Dr M will post more and more on sedges and
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Dr M is warming up for the INTECOL Conference in London this week where he will be discussing using video for plant ID. In preparation, Dr M has been perusing botany videos on the Internet for quantity and quality and here Molly Marquand (seen here previously on New England Asteraceae) explains about different kinds of monocot. Check out NewEnglandWild for more videos on monocots and other plants.

The Devil has the best tunes but the Poaceae surely has all the best words – LIGULE, AURICLE, GLUME, SPIKELET and LODICULE!

Also known as the Leguminosae or Pea family, the Fabaceae is the third largest flowering plant family in the World with around 18,000 species, and of massive economic as well as botanical importance for the myriad species of edible legume utilised the World over (see Fabulous Fabaceous Facts below!).

Dr M’s series of posts on the Top 20 families of flowering plants kicked off with the three largest families globally: Asteraceae, Orchidaceae and Fabaceae.