Videos for botanists

 Beverley Glover talks to Richard West and
Philip Oswald at Peter Sell's memorial.
Image: Lynne Farrell 

As autumn draws on, it's good to have a few indoor botanical treats in the pipeline for rainy days when you really don't feel like venturing outdoors. So my eye was caught by a recent email from colleagues at the University of Leeds. 

They were announcing a series of botanical videos made available under the Plant Science TREE initiative*. The videos are of lectures by eminent botanists and are aimed at undergraduates in biological sciences, but I think most keen botanists would find them of interest. 

Two names that jumped out at me were Prof Beverley Glover (University of Cambridge) whose lecture on flowering plant diversity is available here. If you want to know about iridescent petals or buzz-pollination of Bittersweet, do give it a go.

Sandy Knapp is astonished by Roger Horton's
'Fooled by Babington' exhibit!
BSBI Exhibition Meeting 2015
Image: Waheed Arshad 

I'm also delighted to see that Dr Sandy Knapp's tour de force lecture from 2010 on Understanding Plant Diversity is available here. 

She is an amazing communicator and has the knack of making science sound like great fun and really exciting (which of course it is!). 

Sandy is also a BSBI member and it will be great to catch up with her at this year's BSBI Annual Exhibition Meeting, where she will be presenting the Engler Silver Medal to the co-authors of the Hybrid Flora of the British Isles on behalf of the International Association of Plant Taxonomy.

BSBI Exhibition Meeting 2015
Held at the Natural History Museum, London
Image: Sandy Knapp

If you haven't yet booked for the Exhibition Meeting, please do so as soon as possible. It's on Saturday 26th November at CEH Wallingford, it's free and it's open to BSBI members and non-members alike. 

You'll be able to talk to lots of BSBI botanists including Sandy, but meanwhile you can at least watch her on video!      

*The Plant Science TREE was developed by University of Leeds with funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, and the videos were filmed over several years at Gatsby Plant Science Summer Schools. They are an excellent resource for biology undergraduates and anyone who wants to learn more about botany.