The Irish Flora Blog

That’s right; another New Year’s resolution blog. Admittedly, I am over a month late getting started, but let’s not get into excuses.

I’ll be blunt and to the point: this blog is about plants. Yes, perhaps this is a dry topic for some (maybe many), but I hope to change minds into thinking more about how important plants are.

But before I get into that, a mini bio about me: My name is Hannah, I am a student of Botany for the last 3 and half years (maybe a bit more, I don’t know when to start counting); originally I studied in Galway, Ireland, and currently I am in Edinburgh, Scotland. I think I know a little bit about some stuff now.

I wanted to write this blog for 5 reasons. Bear with me.

1.       I think plants are fantastic, and sadly, under-appreciated. For a while I have been thinking it would be a nice thing to share some thoughts on why they are great to inspire some sort of appreciation for them in other people.

2.       I have come to realise over the past 3 years of studying Botany that there is an awful lot of jargon and mumbo-jumbo that could put off the most enthused student. I’ll try to sort that out for those who don’t know where to start when trying to puzzle this stuff out

3.       To find out more about the Irish flora, because that’s where I am from, and I think it’s got a lot to tell. A lot of us can appreciate how beautiful the Irish landscape is but maybe you never knew you were looking at plants when you watch the Discover Ireland ads.  I also hope that a lot of what I write is applicable to plants all over the world, mostly because Ireland doesn't have any unique plants so what you see here, you’ll find in other countries. This overarching theme will also help to focus what I want to talk about, as Botany is a huge subject, and I wouldn't know where to start otherwise.

4.       The Galway Botanic Garden Project. A bunch of enthusiastic plant nerds, plus myself, all of whom are from Galway want to create a Botanic Garden. This is a huge endeavour for us, and we would love if other people would like this happen too. So hopefully those of you who have gotten this far will want to be as excited about plants as we are and support us in our mission. Here is our little facebook page, please come say hi. 

5.       Lastly, I am writing this for myself. I have primarily been educated to think as a scientist, which involves a lot of technical writing and referencing and researching. I haven’t written anything for fun since I was in school. Overall I thought this endeavour would be a good opportunity to improve my writing skills, spread the good news, and potentially learn a lot.

What exactly is going to be in this blog?

I will attempt to write about the taxonomy, ecology, etymology, and stories of the Irish Flora, with some explanations about some hard words e.g. wtf is a ligule?, and why some hard words kinda mean the same thing e.g do roots=rhizomes?, and explain some tricky plant parts (perhaps with diagrams). In a broader sense, I will try to write a bit about what I know about the world of plants. Maybe you will find this useful. Maybe you won't. 

So here it is, my first botany blog post with, ironically, no plants in it. So here is a picture of one of my favourite plants, cause it's pretty. 

Centaurea scabiosa, which can be found in dry, calcareous (i.e. limestome) grasslands.

Disclaimer: I do not know everything, and therefore I may be wrong sometimes. If you spot a mistake please tell me, whether it be grammar or science. I am here to learn too. 

Note: You may have noticed I have not said how regularly I will be posting. This is intentional, as schedules are too real for the internetland.