Botany

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Tuesday Plant Talk | Value of rainforests

  Rainforests – especially tropical rainforests – are said to have ‘an outsized role in the world, with their significance outweigh by their size.. Of the Earth’s ecosystems, rainforests support the largest variety of plants and animal species, house the majority of indigenous groups still living in isolation from the rest of humanity, and power the mightiest rivers. Rainforests lock up vast amounts of carbon, moderate local temperature, and influence rainfall and weather patterns at regional and planetary scales. BUT...

Plant Tuesday | About the Brisbane Botanical Gardens

  Did you know?  Part of the riverside site where the gardens are located was originally a botanic reserve. It was established in 1828 to provide food for the early penal colony. The City Botanic Gardens officially opened in 1855. That year, the botanic gardens’ curator Walter Hill was appointed as the first superintendent. He began an active planting and experimenting program. This included: trialing crops and plants from around the world to determine their suitability for growing in subtropical...

Many plants are going extinct – yet thousands have no public images!

  From Conversation website For hundreds of years, botanists have collected plants to describe species and keep in herbaria across the world. But while physical plant specimens are irreplaceable, photographs of plants are also an invaluable resource for botanical research, conservation and education. Photographs of plants capture information that can be lost from dead, dried plants, such as flower colour. They also provide ecological context and form the cornerstone of many field guides and education resources. All plant species known...

Joseph Banks : explorer, scientist, botanist extraordinaire

News that experts have located the Endeavour – the ship of Captain James Cook – news item So its a good opportunity  to recall the great work of Sir Joseph Banks ___________     Combining a passion for botanical knowledge and an inherited fortune, Joseph Banks encouraged and patronised scientific activity all over the world. His vast collection of plants and animals are vital to the Natural History Museum scientific collections, for both scientific research and our understanding of Britain’s...