By Ali Ayres It’s decided, 2017 is the year I finally contribute to this fine festive botanical blogging tradition. But what should I write about? Holly? Ivy? All the usual…Read More >
Public Engagement with Science
#AdventBotany Day 21: The qulliq brings light and heat to Canada’s Inuit Nunangat in the dark winter
By Dawn Bazely Christmas day at the North Pole is dark. In Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homelands of Canada, the Arctic Circle (66.6 degrees), marks the latitude where the noon…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 20: Holly
By Patricia Francis The Winter Solstice has been celebrated in many cultures for thousands of years. In our northern latitudes evergreens show how life continues even in the depths of…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 19: Christmas Kalanchoe – Kalanchoe blossfeldiana
By Will Simpson The genus Kalanchoe (the preferred pronunciation is kal-un-KOH-ee(1)) belongs to the Crassulaceae family. Like other members of this family, such as Aeonium, Crassula, Echeveria and Sedum, Kalanchoes…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 18: Cyclamen persicum: a Christmas misnomer?
By Karen Andrews They say that you should never judge a book by its cover. Walter C. Blasdale’s ‘Cyclamen persicum: Its Natural and Cultivated Forms’ is an unassuming, concise volume…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 17: A tough nut to crack!
By Alastair Culham Filling your lap with the sharp fragments of nut shells as you work through a bowl of shell-on nuts is one of the pleasures of Christmas. Less…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 16: Cardamom: The Queen of Spices
By Maria Christodoulou & Kalman Konyves With Christmas approaching quickly, many of you are braving the cold and crowds to complete your Christmas shopping. If you do have time for…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 15: A holiday pineapple for the table
By Katherine Preston and Jeanne Osnas (The Botanist in the Kitchen) This deep dive into pineapple anatomy is our contribution this year to the very fun Advent Botany essay collection,…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 14: Trading nutmeg and swapping islands
By Helen Miller On 23rd December 1616 Nathaniel Courthope came into view of Pulo Run, an island situated in the Moluccas (Indonesia), which have been known as the Spice Islands…Read More >
#AdventBotany Day 13: Pomegranate, a pharmaceutical view
By: Szu Shen Wong and Steve Alexander Imageries of the of the Mother and Child are often used in traditional Christmas cards but our modern versions seem to omit a…Read More >