Dr M was listening to Radio 3 on his way to carry out botanical surveys in Norfolk yesterday, it is National Countryside Week (did you know?) and the Radio 3 studio guest was Richard Mabey – the well-known nature writer and author of many books, including Flora Britannica which is all about plants and their history and uses in Britain (shed loads of eXtreme
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The Gentian family has an air of the exotic about it, all those lovely deep blue arctic alpines seen on holiday in the Alps! Gentianeaceae are quite easily recognised by their opposite, entire and glabrous leaves, 4-5 petals (famously blue of course in Gentiana, but other genera are white, yellow or pink) with the petals fused into a corolla tube with 4-5 stamens borne
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Here is the first of Dr M’s promised grass identification blogs on the Tribes of Grasses and starts with The Poeae because? Well just because it seems logical, we ARE talking Poaceae after all! The Poeae is the second largest tribe of British grasses after Aveneae which will be the subject of the next blog in this series. Eleven British genera fall in the
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This years weather has been varied to say the least! The coldest spring since 1962 and a wetter than average May was followed by a heat wave which kicked off in July and is currently still with us. This rather extreme weather has played some interesting games with the plants of our countryside. The wet May seems to have been great for the grasses
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Dr M continues his focus on Poaceae with a look into the Tribes of grasses. In his legendary Poaceae song Dr M has already established that the Poaceae is a family of grasses green and wonderful! But notwithstanding this fact, the beginning and even the intermediate botanist often needs some guidance and tips for sorting the genera and species into a framework to help
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Dr M is particularly fond of grasses! Grasses are an important group of plants with more than 10 000 species worldwide. In Britain there are over 150 species of grasses and they are an important component of all habitat types not just grasslands (pastures, meadows), but also woodland, heathland and wetlands. Grasses are important as food for grazing animals. But grasses are also valuable
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Dr M has released his latest eXtreme botany video, this time it is “eXtreme botany – Master Quadrat”. Here Dr M is joined by John Torode and Greg Wallace and the man who polishes the glasses to bring you all you ever wanted to know about the quadrat but were afraid to ask! That’s seriously unctious, that’s Yummy! As Dr M says, there is
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Dr M has been asked by his public to make a video about the hand lens – surely the main tool of the botanists trade, certainly for the field botanist.
eXtreme botany is growing all the time! The first in a projected series of plant identification videos is now in the video section of drmgoeswild.com! This botanical adventure kicks off at a lovely streamside location in South Wales, May 2013. Dr M’s idea is to make short videos showing the plants in situ and giving clues over a couple of minutes of video and
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What is a Bioblitz? A ‘BioBlitz’ is a large scale event run over 24 hours where people come together to identify as many species as possible. Where is this Bioblitz? At University of Reading we are bringing together scientists, naturalists, local community groups, students and the public to learn about the amazing biodiversity on the glorious, green and prize-winning Whiteknights campus. When is this
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