Natural Latin: a new blog about the etymology of plant names and botanical terms

Monkey Orchid blooming in Kent.
Saturday 21st May 2016
Image: Owen Leyshon. 

For those of us not lucky enough to be attending the BSBI Summer Meeting this weekend, here's a stay-at-home treat: a brand new blog by BSBI member Lin Hawthorne about the etymology of some of the plant names and botanical terminology we all use. Click here to view the Natural Latin blog or use the link in the list of blogs by BSBI members (on right).

This is a subject that has long fascinated both me and Lin, and we had a chance to chat about it last week when I visited Three Hagges Wood Meadow, an ambitious habitat creation project to turn a former barley field into a wood meadow of the kind still found in Estonia. Lin's vision is already becoming a reality, with 700+ invertebrate taxa recorded so far on-site. 

I'm hoping to feature my interview with Lin on these pages next week, complete with images from my visit to the fabulous wood-meadow, but meanwhile you can enjoy her first beautifully-written but not-so-innocent post about orchids here.