Plants are People too: Botany Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode we have a special guest, Arthur Haines who has authored a number of books, the most well known is probably the Botanical Identification Manual for New England "Flora Novae-Angliae".  Arthur shares with us in this episode seven considerations to make when observing native plant populations in New England and how these considerations can help you come to a reasonable conclusion about its nativity. 

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In Episode 31 of the Plants are People too podcast we visit the oldest native plant organization in the United States (Native Plant Trust) native plant nursery in Whately, Massachustts, Nasami Farm. At the farm we meet, talk and take a tour with Alexis Doshas the Nursery Manager. In this episode we talk casually about native plant propagation, germination, short and long term seed storage, visit the climate controlled seed vault and talk about some bigger picture ideas of plants and effects of ecotypes and plants in our region. Enjoy!

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Season 2 Episode 1 Part 2 just got uploaded! Happy mother’s day and to all the dioecious plants out there happy mother’s day to 50% of you! 

In today’s episode, we continue through New Mexico on our botanical road trip recap. 

In this episode: Getting Pecos Diamonded with Eschscholzia in Rockhound State Park, waiting an eternity for legal weed in Las Cruces,

shitting our pants driving over the Black Range and talking about the interesting plants along the way.

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In this episode we're on the road in the Texas Panhandle, Roswell, New Mexico, and White Sands. We save babies in Canyon, get punctured by puncture vine, drive through the McBride Fire and get disappointed in Roswell!

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In Episode 20 we're very excited to be joined by the botanical duo @letsbotanize, Ben Goulet-Scott and Jacob Suissa, who are Post-Doctorate and PhD candidates at Harvard University and Fellows at the Arnold Arboretum. In this episode, we discuss the @letsbotanize mission to bring botanical knowledge to the masses and what the democratization of botanical knowledge looks like now and what it might look like in the future. 

This will be the last episode of Season 1. The podcast will be taking a spring break and returning for Season 2 beginning May 1st. 

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Episode 19 is brought to you by Moxie™ (not really, but I'm open). Today we have Greg Nelson @thebogboy  from San Diego, California on the podcast to share his knowledge about growing some bog species (both carnivorous and not) on your own property.

Greg shares about the beginning steps on container choice, where to get ethically grown plants and how to propagate your own, aspect, watering and long term care, as well as some points for Northeastern growers.

Some of the species discussed are Dionaea  (Venus Fly Trap), Darlingtonia (Cobralily), Nepenthes, Sarracenia  (PitcherPlant),  Drosera  (Sundews),  Pinquicula  (Butterwort), Utricularia (bladderwort), Sabatia and Xyris  (Yellow-eyed grass) as well as some orchid species. 

Remember a lot of these plants are endangered or threatened in their native range. If you're interested in native species consider donating to a local plant conservation group or joining  a local botanical society. If you do purchase plants of ANY species make sure they're coming from a reputable and ethical source (either by seed or cloning from seed grown root stock). 

NEVER PURCHASE POACHED PLANTS - ITS A DICK MOVE 

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In Episode 18 we have special guest Tanner Filyaw, Plant Propagation Manager with United Plant Savers on the show to talk about non-timber forest products including American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), forest farming and conservation techniques for medicinal plant conservation as well as a little on White Ash (Fraxinus americanus).

Visit the United Plant Savers Website to become a member: https://unitedplantsavers.org/

A little about UPS from the webiste

Mission Statement:

United Plant Savers’ mission is to protect native medicinal plants and fungi, and their habitats while ensuring renewable populations for use by generations to come.

Vision Statement:

Medicinal species are readily available and are harvested and cultivated with practices that protect native plants, fungi, and their habitats and that embody the principles of reciprocity, right livelihood, and biocultural diversity.

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In Episode 17: Our guest this week on the podcast is Dr. Lauren Erland, research associate at the University of British Columbia, Kelowna. Dr. Erland shares and discusses with us Artic native plant species and their conservation in the face of climate change. The area of Dr. Erland's study was Inuit Nunangat, a unique cultural, political and geographic zone that encompasses, Nunavut, and Northern Quebec, Labrador and the Northwest Territories. Lauren explains a little bit about the botanical exploration of this area as well as botanical collection methods of seeds, traditional and tissue culture vouchers.  Also discussed in this episode is the invitro method of plant propagation using agar with a plant tissue culture as a substrate medium for germination of historically difficult to propagate flora. Who else loves the Orobanchaceae family of plants!?

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In Episode 16: I am joined by Amanda Weise, research Botanist with the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, MN to discuss some of the things the arboretum is doing as part of it's mission. This includes vascular plant seed banking, terrestrial orchid germination research, and butternut conservation. In this episode, Amanda shares some of her identification techniques for Juglans cinerea and some of the management techniques that are going into the conservation of this historical northeastern and upper midwestern species. Also in this episode, Amanda shares with us some information on Rhodiola integrifolia, and some ponderings and research she's done on disjunct plant species. Enjoy.

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In Episode 15, we're happy to have Matt Charpentier a field botanist from Massachusetts and Vice President of the New England Botanical Society on to talk about his experience with a special fern species in the Northeast, Crepidomanes intricatum (AKA Trichomanes intricatum, Appalachian Bristle Fern, or Weft Fern). Matt also shares with us some thoughts on survey biases as field biologist/botanists and shares some stories on some special botanical finds as well as some points and explanation of gemmae. Enjoy!

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