BSBI at the 2024 International Botanical Congress in Madrid: Days 3&4

Following on from his first report from the XX International Botanical Congress in Madrid, we have another report from BSBI trustee, Richard Allanach. But first, a correction: we said that there were three people in the BSBI delegation: BSBI President Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, Richard himself and fellow trustee Dr Sandy Knapp OBE, but Richard tells me that Prof Pete Hollingsworth CBE, Director of Science at RBG Edinburgh (and also a BSBI trustee), and Prof Paul Ashton, Professor of Botany at Edge Hill University and BSBI President-elect, are also attending the Congress. It's great to have such strong BSBI  representation at such an important event!

So, over to Richard for his latest report - and he also took the photos on this page:

"The issue of how Ireland was revegetated following the last Ice Age was one of the exciting topics addressed at the XX International Botanical Congress on Tuesday. Reviewing Ireland's tree species, Colin Kelleher of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, concluded that the majority of trees would have arrived from the continent via Britain. 

"It was left to BSBI President Micheline Sheehy Skeffington (image on left) and her research colleagues from the Universities of Corunna and Santiago de Compostela to reveal the origins of the Irish population of Arbutus unedo (the strawberry tree) which in all probability arrived with copper prospectors from the Iberian peninsula around 2000 BC. 

"Whilst this was news to the delegates at the Congress, BSBI members had advance notice of their findings: Micheline gave a short talk on her findings to the 2023 British and Irish Botanical Conference in Newcastle, and also published a paper in British & Irish Botany, the BSBI's online scientific journal.

"On Wednesday the XX International Botanical Congress's programme of talks, workshops and symposia stopped at lunchtime. For some delegates this was an opportunity to take a siesta in Madrid's sweltering 35 degree heat. However for many of the ardent young botanists attending - including four of the British delegation, workers at Kew Gardens and Sheffield University - it was just swapping one type of work for another and a chance to visit Madrid's Botanic Gardens. The three pictured (image on right) were examining the nut-like cones of Taxodium distichum, a much finer tree than its cousin, the all too common Leylandii. An example of a blooming international co-operation stemming from this Congress, we have (from left to right) a delegate from Spain, from Colombia and from Germany".

Many thanks to Richard for this latest report from Madrid. If you're also following latest updates on X/Twitter at #IBC2024, you may spot a few other notable British and Irish botanists/ BSBI members, including Dr Jonathan Mitchley, of Botanical University Challenge fame, and agricultural geneticist Prof Pat Heslop-Harrison; their Twitter accounts will keep you updated on what these luminaries are hearing, seeing and talking about at the Congress.