{"id":5367,"date":"2018-12-25T10:01:48","date_gmt":"2018-12-25T10:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?p=5367"},"modified":"2018-12-25T10:01:48","modified_gmt":"2018-12-25T10:01:48","slug":"adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/25\/adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice\/","title":{"rendered":"#AdventBotany 2018, Day 25: Naughty or Nice?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>By <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eternalmagpie\">Claire Smith<\/a><\/h1>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5370\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5370\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?attachment_id=5370\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5370\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5370\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/files\/2018\/12\/Coal_fire-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5370\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This image is licensed from Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Are you on Santa\u2019s Naughty or Nice list this year? If all you\u2019ve discovered in the toe of your stocking this morning is a lump of coal, it might not be as terrible a present as you think. Look closely, and you might find that Father Christmas has brought you a fossil plant or two!<\/p>\n<p>Coal is formed from dead and only partially decayed plant material.\u00a0 Essentially it is peat that has been subjected to heat and high pressure changing it from the soft brown material widely used in gardening into the hard black coal.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The herbarium holds both specimens and photographs of fossil plants:<\/p>\n\n<p>These two are examples of <i>Lepidodendron<\/i>, a plant fossil commonly found in carboniferous rocks. Known as the \u2018scale tree\u2019, the diamond shapes are in fact scars left by the shedding of leaves as the plant grew.<\/p>\n\n<p>This specimen and photograph are examples of <i>Annularia<\/i>, which are the leaves of <i>Calamites<\/i>. Abundant in coal deposits, its closest living relative is <i>Equisetum<\/i> or Horsetail. (You may already be familiar with <i>Equisetum arvense<\/i>, which can be particularly invasive.)<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_5371\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5371\" style=\"width: 512px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?attachment_id=5371\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5371\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5371 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/files\/2018\/12\/Equisetum_arvense.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5371\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MPF [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0) or GFDL (http:\/\/www.gnu.org\/copyleft\/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>But what did the plants of the carboniferous era actually look like? There are plenty of artistic interpretations, like the one below which is part of Ridpath\u2019s \u201c<i>History of the World<\/i>\u201d, published in New York in 1897. <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/ridpathshistoryo01ridp\/page\/n5\">The complete book is available to view online<\/a> &#8211; this image is <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/ridpathshistoryo01ridp\/ridpathshistoryo01ridp#page\/86\/mode\/1up\">on page 86<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5369\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5369\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?attachment_id=5369\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5369\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5369\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/files\/2018\/12\/Carboniferous_landscape.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"418\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5369\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ridpath\u2019s \u201cHistory of the World\u201d, published in New York in 1897<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Museums around the world also have dioramas to show accurate depictions of various types of habitat, often predominantly featuring animals, but the plants play a vitally important part of these depictions too. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnh.org\" class=\"broken_link\">American Museum of Natural History<\/a>, perhaps the most famous home of the museum diorama, has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnh.org\/exhibitions\/permanent-exhibitions\/hall-of-north-american-forests\" class=\"broken_link\">a hall dedicated to North American Forests<\/a> &#8211; albeit modern ones. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fieldmuseum.org\/\">Field Museum<\/a> in Chicago have a carboniferous period diorama, of which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/science\/phenomena\/2016\/01\/07\/the-fantastically-strange-origin-of-most-coal-on-earth\/\">this National Geographic article<\/a> includes a photograph.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5374\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5374\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?attachment_id=5374\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5374\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5374\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/files\/2018\/12\/Museum_diorama.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5374\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This image is licensed from Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The diorama above is at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruhrmuseum.de\/\">Ruhr Museum<\/a> in Germany, part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/en:Zollverein_Coal_Mine_Industrial_Complex\">Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex<\/a>, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is probably one of the best places in Europe to learn about coal all the way from its prehistoric origins right through to its modern industrial history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Claire Smith Are you on Santa\u2019s Naughty or Nice list this year? If all you\u2019ve discovered in the toe of your stocking this morning is a lump of coal,&#8230;<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"&#104;&#116;&#116;&#112;&#115;&#58;&#47;&#47;&#114;&#101;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#114;&#99;&#104;&#46;&#114;&#101;&#97;&#100;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#46;&#97;&#99;&#46;&#117;&#107;&#47;&#104;&#101;&#114;&#98;&#97;&#114;&#105;&#117;&#109;&#47;&#50;&#48;&#49;&#56;&#47;&#49;&#50;&#47;&#50;&#53;&#47;&#97;&#100;&#118;&#101;&#110;&#116;&#98;&#111;&#116;&#97;&#110;&#121;&#45;&#50;&#48;&#49;&#56;&#45;&#100;&#97;&#121;&#45;&#50;&#53;&#45;&#110;&#97;&#117;&#103;&#104;&#116;&#121;&#45;&#111;&#114;&#45;&#110;&#105;&#99;&#101;&#47;\">Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[52,53,54],"tags":[29,228],"class_list":["post-5367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","category-herbarium-rng","category-public-engagement-with-science","tag-adventbotany","tag-adventbotany2018"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>#AdventBotany 2018, Day 25: Naughty or Nice? - Herbarium RNG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/25\/adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"#AdventBotany 2018, Day 25: Naughty or Nice? - Herbarium RNG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Claire Smith Are you on Santa\u2019s Naughty or Nice list this year? If all you\u2019ve discovered in the toe of your stocking this morning is a lump of coal,...Read More &gt;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/25\/adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Herbarium RNG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PlantDiversity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-25T10:01:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/files\/2018\/12\/Coal_fire-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alastair Culham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@RNGherb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@RNGherb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alastair Culham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/25\/adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/25\/adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice\/\",\"name\":\"#AdventBotany 2018, Day 25: Naughty or Nice? - Herbarium RNG\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-25T10:01:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-25T10:01:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#\/schema\/person\/773479130137793cfd19c5afee34a6c2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/25\/adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/25\/adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/25\/adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"#AdventBotany 2018, Day 25: Naughty or Nice?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/\",\"name\":\"Herbarium RNG\",\"description\":\"Excellence in plant science since 1897\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#\/schema\/person\/773479130137793cfd19c5afee34a6c2\",\"name\":\"Alastair Culham\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b62061ee61f0c9332a3c756afc1eca11558ede4ac9e671e4411947ae4875c06b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b62061ee61f0c9332a3c756afc1eca11558ede4ac9e671e4411947ae4875c06b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alastair Culham\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/author\/a-culhamreading-ac-uk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"#AdventBotany 2018, Day 25: Naughty or Nice? - Herbarium RNG","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/25\/adventbotany-2018-day-25-naughty-or-nice\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"#AdventBotany 2018, Day 25: Naughty or Nice? - Herbarium RNG","og_description":"By Claire Smith Are you on Santa\u2019s Naughty or Nice list this year? 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