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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 4: Lore of Hazelnuts, Corylus avellana
By Sophie Marley Purple quality streets, pralines and ferrero rocher are always the first to vanish from chocolate tins during the festive grazing period. Ferrero Rocher showing hazelnut centre Their...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 5: By Jove, its a walnut!
By Rachel Webster In my humble opinion, the hazelnut is OK, but in my stocking I’ll be sure to find some walnuts. Clearly I’m not the only one to put this as the king of the nuts either, as the...
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Advent Botany – Day 6: White Cedar
By Dawn Bazely Eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) is popular in garlands and ropes used for door and window decorations during the Christmas holiday season in Canada. White cedar fronds are...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 7: Saffron: A light in the darkness
By Charlie Campbell Crocus sativus (Saffron). Photograph By Liné1 Taken From Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0?) In Scandinavia, particularly Sweden and Norway, Saffron is associated with advent, Christmas,...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 9: Reindeer Moss
By Andrew Doran It’s not a moss, it’s a lichen! Cladonia rangiferina and Cladonia portentosa are both known as reindeer moss or reindeer lichens. This lichen takes its specific epithet from the...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 10: Rice Pudding
By Jana Vamosi and Sarah Walshaw A pot of dryland rice grown in the Tropical biodiversity glashouse at Reading. Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa (Asian rice) or Oryza glaberrima...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 11: Sweet Chestnuts
By Mary Williams A specimen of Castanea sativa (RNG) My December buzzes along to the tune of “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…,” otherwise known as The Christmas Song; Nat King Cole’s beautiful...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 12: Anyone can grow paperwhites but their taxonomy...
By Dawn Bazely A spray of flowers from one Paperwhite bulb – photo by Dawn Bazely Paperwhites, Narcissus papyraceus, are one of the most fragrant Narcissus species. Although they’re native to the...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 13: Putting Christmas on the map
By Rachel Webster Christmas Island (Australia) I wonder whether a ship captain was pleased to spot land on an auspicious day? I can imagine that assigning names according to the calendar might remove...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 14: the Olive
By Louise Denning Olive tree with Anemone coronaria An olive branch shown with a dove is often depicted on Christmas cards to symbolise peace and goodwill amongst men. Where this concept of the olive...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 15: Mahleb
By Andrew Bewsey, Jordan Bilsborrow, and Maria Christodoulou Mahleb is used many festive bakes for its aromatic properties. Found in texts dating to the medieval times, its popularity increased through...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 16: Straw or Hay, which will make Dr M’s day?
By Dr M Goes Wild Poaceae, as the song goes, is a family of grasses green and wonderful, but just how green and just how wonderful even Poaceae aficionado Dr M did not quite appreciate until he came to...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 17: Sgan t’sek
By Chelsey Geralda Armstrong Sgan t’sek, native Hazelnut in the Pacific Northwest On Day 4 of the advent botany series this year we heard about the world’s 4th largest nut crop, the European Hazelnut...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 18: The Tangerine – Just Like a Virgin
By John Warren When I was a kid, every Christmas my dad would give me a tangerine, a six pence and a pat on the head. By the time I was ten, I had one hundred pounds in the bank and a flat head....
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 19: Popcorn tree decorations
By Sophie Marley Popcorn tree decoration By now most of us will be adorning our Christmas tree with dazzling decorations and scrummy treats. This year I have a new eye catching addition, strings of...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 20: Sugar
By Jeanne Osnas and Katherine Preston (Botanists in the Kitchen) @BitKBlog Sugar is an excellent preservative. Editor’s note: Botany meets the chopping board today in the first of two stories by the...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 21: Winter mint
By Jeanne Osnas and Katherine Preston (Botanists in the Kitchen) @BitKBlog An early image of candy canes. From Wikipedia The candy cane, that red- and white-striped hard candy imbued with peppermint...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 22: Healing Christmas: Cinnamon
By Macarena Cárdenas Think of the smell and taste of Christmas and Cinnamon may come to your mind, the sweet essence of mulled wine, or in the warmth of the apple and cinnamon pudding. But perhaps...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 23: Night of the Radishes
By Emma Cooper Nativity in carved radish When you think about Christmas plants you probably think about holly and ivy, possibly Christmas trees and poinsettias, and maybe even Brussels sprouts and...
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Advent Botany 2015 – Day 24: King Protea
By Robbie Blackhall-Miles Protea cynarioides (Photo by Ben Ram) Every year in preparation for Christmas a king from a distant land honours me with its presence. The king of which I speak is a Protea...
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