Botany – The Cambridge Placebook

July 17, 2021July 18, 2021

Cambridge Botanic Garden at 175 Years

Last week I volunteered as a “Science Explainer” for the 175^th Anniversary celebration of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. I wore a bright (bright) orange T-shirt and lanyard and smiled at people as they walked by the chalk grassland and fen displays, trying to judge if they would be open to a chat about native Cambridgeshire ecology. I pointed out the pale brown newts wriggling between lily pads in the fen pond to children scampering over the fen boardwalk, explained how alkaline chalk determines what can grow in chalk soil and chalk-drained fens, apologized for not knowing where to get the next stamp on the Mystery History trail, and chatted about pasqueflowers and orchids. When there was no one around I watched bees on the meadowsweet and listened to the live music filtering through the trees and clashing with the one-man band (the “Pramdemonium”) wheeling around the Garden with bubbles coming out the horns. Festive, to say the least.

Whether or not passersby fully caught on to the reasons for the festivity, the celebration is justified—the Garden has been a dynamic center of botanical science, beauty, and public engagement for a good long while now, thanks to visionary and determined botanists and teachers. And how happy that people can gather here with music, food, kids, and curiosity again after last year’s hiatus!

June 14, 2021July 5, 2021

Botanizing at Devil’s Dyke

botanize (or botanise): v., to study plants in their natural habitat (akin to birdwatching)

When I heard that Ed Tanner, retired plant ecology professor from my department who still sits in on ecology group meetings, was taking a few other students out on Saturdays to nature reserves around Cambridge to botanize, I didn’t waste time in inviting myself along. I was delighted by the chance to explore new places and absorb some of the decades of plant and place knowledge that Ed has to offer (not to mention being one of the most Cambridge-y ways I could possibly spend an afternoon). The next trip planned was to Devil’s Dyke. All I really knew about Devil’s Dyke was that it was a very old landmark somewhere out in the countryside—near Newmarket, of horse racing fame—and, Ed told us via email, is habitat to rare orchids.

March 28, 2021July 5, 2021

Field Notes: Spring’s Progress

In Cambridge now, we’re teetering at the peak of daffodils and cherry blossoms. But the colors started with the crocuses, with layer on layer of new faces emerging since then. Was this the beginning of spring, over a month before the equinox? Less tidy than the succession of flowers, many species of wind and cloud and sun flow through these early months, hybridizing winter and spring. But petals and their colors and birds with their eloquence won’t be ignored as they talk of the changing seasons. I’ve been taking notes.

February 14, 2021July 5, 2021

Cambridge Botanic Garden in Winter

The Cambridge University Botanic Garden should be by all rights one of my most frequented places as a plant lover. However, thanks to the pandemic and my skepticism about the weather’s suitability for going somewhere specifically to look at plants, I hadn’t set foot in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden in over a year, until last week when I finally took up the garden’s invitation to come stroll with a friend (only one allowed, per lockdown law). It was crystalline cold, but sunny, and we found some vivid highlights despite winter dormancy.

December 23, 2020July 5, 2021

Newnham College Garden

A common misconception I encounter when I tell people that I study plant ecology is that I must know all about gardening. In fact, I have to reply, I don’t have much of a green thumb. Ecology isn’t horticulture, and although I love observing plants in their natural habitats and other people’s gardens, I haven’t yet had the space or patience to work out what keeps plants happy in my own plot of soil. I feel vaguely guilty about this—it seems I should have more interest in the real-time lives of plants. And yet my intentions to get into gardening have yet to become more.

So it was both par for the course (albeit in a backwards way) and perhaps a sign when, a few weeks ago, I was stopped in the Newnham Porters Lodge by a passing staff member with a question. She had heard my flatmate and me talking and asked tentatively if we were American, and this may be a strange question but did we know anything about plants? (We had not been talking about plants.) She went on to say that the Development Team were making a video for North American alumnae and they needed American students to help interview the head gardener, ask about American plants, etc; might we be interested? My flatmate was bemused by the fragmented request, but I, although still not entirely sure what she was asking for, said, “Actually, yes, I study plant ecology, and sure, why not?” Followed by the usual caveat about horticulture.

A few days later I got an email from an enthusiastic project director, Beth, who explained the video was a virtual college tour for US and Canada-based alumnae for the 150^th College anniversary, and that this was the first project she was directing herself and she was so excited, but wanted to give me an opportunity to say no—but I assured her I was happy to help. Hobnobbing with the head gardener sounded like fun, and in any case, it should make a good story.

September 26, 2020July 5, 2021

South Island, NZ

Dec 1-5, 2019 catchup, Christchurch

I went to the New Zealand Ecological Society conference, held on the campus of an agricultural college just outside of Christchurch in Lincoln, largely because my supervisor was going and it was him I was coming to the South Island to see. I wasn’t giving a talk or going for a particular session; instead I saw it as a chance to sample different foci and ecosystems—eg the Braided River ecosystem, which had a whole session. I didn’t mind missing an entire afternoon of the conference to explore Christchurch one day.

September 13, 2020July 5, 2021

Wellington pt. 2: Treasure Box

Nov 25-27

After a few days of watching presentations and talking to other scientists about Australasian plants and their classification and evolution(and eating really good food), as well as giving my own presentation about hebes, I took some time to wander around the Te Papa museum. Te Papa Tongarewa, the full name of the msueum, means Our Place in Māori (I’ve also seen it translated roughly as “treasure box”) and is the national museum of New Zealand, showcasing cultural and natural history. There’s a lot to learn about indigenous Māori culture and history—and in general on this trip I came to appreciate how visible and respected this culture is in New Zealand. There was also an excellent new exhibit put on by the Natural History department called Te Taiao Nature, spotlighting New Zealand’s flora and fauna and geology. In addition to the visible exhibits, the museum is a repository for collections of natural and cultural specimens, including an entire herbarium of preserved NZ plants. This is actually where most of my hebe specimens came from for my research (I extracted DNA from little leaf fragments taken from the original specimens). There are lots of people working behind the scenes, curating the collections and doing research on them, including my excellent collaborator who sent the specimens.