Plant memories

Motivation for choosing a plant-related education pathway:
"𝙄 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙗𝙮 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚. 𝙄𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣."

Motivation for choosing a plant-related career:
"𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩."

Motivation for choosing a botany-related education pathway:
"𝙈𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙨, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙞𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝘼 𝙋𝙝𝘿 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙞𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙄 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨."

Motivation for choosing a botany-related career pathway:

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨."

Favourite plant memory: “The smell in the forest through my walks there.”

a cartoon plant with three leaves and a face ALT: a cartoon plant with three leaves and a face

Motivation for studying botany:

I like plants.

Favourite plant memory: “Always growing tomato seedlings in heated propagators early in the season, the ritual of potting on, weaning the plants and selecting the best ones to plant in the glasshouse.”

This is lovely :)

Any other thoughts on the topic (of becoming a botanist) you would like to share? 😔

Plants are the basis of every terrestrial ecosystem, including humans. We desperately need more people, training and jobs for them. I watch as plant departments around the world are closed down with despair

a plant in a pot with botanica.bar on the bottom ALT: a plant in a pot with botanica.bar on the bottom

Motivation for plant-related career?

I became fascinated by ecology and was inspired by my lecturers at University.

a painting of flowers and leaves in a jungle ALT: a painting of flowers and leaves in a jungle

Motivation for plant-related career?
I'm biologist and I always had i kind of inclination to life matters. The plant world was a serendipity in my way.

I am also very interested in molecular plant-fungal interactions, both symbiotic and pathogenic.

Motivation for plant-related career?
I was fascinated first, then I discovered that I was good at the bench, and it all fell into place. The fact that plants feed the world has always added to my motivation, which is anyway rooted into my curiosity.

Can you share your favourite plant-related memory? “I was always completely astonished by the plant landscape and the powerful calm that they can transmit to me. It's something that happens to me until now.”

The smell of lentisk/mastic (Pistacia lentiscus) in the forest during summers. Actually, as a child, I was not aware that it was specifically this plant that produced this perfume. Now, as a plant scientist, I got to study P. lentiscus, and its smell always brings me inmediate childhood memories 💚.

Can you share you favourite plant-related memory?

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙏𝙖𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙖."

Friends, followers, plant lovers: what is your favourite plant-related memory or moment?

Can you share your favourite plant -related memory? “Rose bushes near my grandma's house.”

Motivation for choosing a botany-related education pathway:

"𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙚, 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 (𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙪𝙢, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙜𝙣𝙪𝙢). 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧."

Strategies for promoting the uptake of plant biology as an education and career pathway supported by the survey of 421 plant biologists carried out.

Inspiring the next generation of plant scientists: What we learned from 421 plant biologists

@joannakacprzyk.bsky.social and Rainer Melzer

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

@plantmemories.bsky.social
@ucdflowerpower.bsky.social

#PlantScience

Motivation for choosing botany-related education:
i love the outdoors. I loved nature. I became a botanist NOT because I didn't like dissection of animals (I don't mind at all), but because I really found plants and all their diversity personally impressive

What a fantastic story...

Today, given such a background, I would become something horrendously uninspiring – an estate agent or similar! It's all very well you asking about motivation (always a strength of mine), but it's pointless without you also considering opportunity (or lack thereof

So, in summary, I followed an 'education pathway' that was far from normal. Since then, such unusual routes have been closed off as financially untenable, and in any case, the cost of a full education today would have been way beyond the means of myself or my family.

Specifically, I was offered all six of the PhD positions for which I applied around the UK, accepting the palaeobotanical option in London on the grounds that (a) it could encompass both my botanical and geological interests and (b) would allow me to live in the home of my then girlfriend!// ).

By the time I was awarded a first-class honours degree, I had co-authored several sedimentology papers as part of my job and sole-authored several orchid papers in my 'spare time', so all of a sudden I was viewed as a superior item rather than an inferior one!

... qualify me for a PhD place. So over the next two years I travelled into London every weekday night, attended three hours of lectures, and arrived home at 11 pm, then to be fed by my long-suffering mother. The tuition fees were small and paid by my employer.

There followed seven years during which I held down a full time job while simultaneously acquiring 2 top-graded BScs in biology and geology (I was working in a soils/ sedimentology lab). The 1st BSc took four years to complete, but then I discovered it was rated an ordinary degree and so did not...

There followed a year of near-unemployment before I secured a job as a junior lab technician at the then Rothamsted Experimental Station, located near my mother's home.

But my father withdrew the financial support that he should have provided for my degree,and neither I nor my mother had any money, so I left university after seven days! Also, frankly,I was bored, because I had not been taught anything I didn't already know,and I hated the daily commute into London.