Alastair Culham
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thebotanist.bsky.social
Alastair Culham
@thebotanist.bsky.social
Life through botany goggles. Botany, phylogeny, plants, horticulture. Enjoys baking. Has a pet red eared terrapin.
Last week, I met Hydrolea spinosa (photo) at Cambridge Botanic Garden. Tomorrow, I'll hear a talk on taxonomy of Hydroleaceae at Edinburgh Botanic Garden. The family has 1 genus & 11 species. Part of Solanales. This species doesn't even have its own Wikipedia page :(
@cubotanicgarden.bsky.social
August 27, 2025 at 8:56 PM
A nail biting Botanical University Challenge semi-final between Reading and Plymouth. Plymouth won on the fourth tiebreak question. Congratulations Plymouth!
August 20, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Botanical University Challenge Semi final 1 is about to start.
www.youtube.com/live/bX_sdw1...
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#Botany #Plants
August 20, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Drimia/Squilla coming in to flower in Gozo. It amazes me how plants can invest such energy into flowering in the peak dry season. #geophyte #Asparagaceae #Bulb
August 13, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Visited Comino today. Pancratium maritimum in bloom. My first ever experience of a rubbish bin dedicated to waste pineapples. Instagram craze of pineapple based cocktails on Comino, Blue Lagoon. No idea why. There is a somewhat whimsical 'history' of the craze here lovinmalta.com/opinion/sati...
August 12, 2025 at 8:08 PM
As a long-time Cyclamen researcher, this is my first encounter with a cheese named Cyclamen! Looking forward to tasting it!
August 7, 2025 at 4:07 PM
What happens when you photograph a plant next to a mooring bollard and ask AI to identify it? You get told you've photographed a mushroom. What i was siming for was Carduus tenuiflorus. Context is crucial.
July 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Peat free cultivation of Sarracenia - trials at Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley. Seen on Saturday. It looks as if Schnell's 1970s recommendation to use Sphagnum still holds true!
October 15, 2024 at 6:50 PM
Currently at #MonocotsVII in San Jose, Costa Rica. Had nearly a whole day of mycoheterotrophs - Thismia & Corallorhiza among others.
March 12, 2024 at 11:51 AM
Congratulations to Tomos Jones, University of Reading, Biology for passing his PhD on gardens as a source of invasive plants. #gardenescapers #invasives
@herbarium.bsky.social @drmgoeswild.bsky.social
February 17, 2024 at 10:22 AM
It's National Houseplant Appreciation Day. This Cymbidium is in flower in my conservatory after a summer in the garden. I'll make sure I appreciate it!
@drmgoeswild.bsky.social
January 10, 2024 at 2:29 PM
University of Reading is lucky enough to have an original Herefordshire Pomona. The 'Carrion Apple' pictured here was so called because the oldest tree was used to hang meat for dogs. Also known as 'Kempley Red' which sounds rather nicer. 🙂🌱🌿 @konyveskalman.bsky.social
November 20, 2023 at 6:08 PM
I've got a research interest in Cyclamen so was intrigued to see this Djix cultivar in a garden centre this morning. The petals stick out rather than being reflexed giving an attractive contrast between petals and sepals. schoneveld-breeding.com/en/on-displa... 🌱 #Botany
November 18, 2023 at 11:49 AM
Coelogyne trinervis is flowering in my greenhouse. The smell has the amine odour of chestnut flowers. Not one to bring in to the house! 🌱 #Botany #orchid
November 12, 2023 at 4:26 PM
Cyclamen confusum (Grey-Wilson) Culham, Jope, P.Moore- I've seen this in cultivation, DNA sequenced it but this week was the first time in the wild. powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:ls...
Sirikari Gorge maps.app.goo.gl/Da3Pt46JYedL...
November 9, 2023 at 8:14 PM
Cyclamen graecum leaves today in Crete. Leaves from just one population! 🌱 The flowers are fairly uniform in mid to light pink.
November 7, 2023 at 7:49 PM
#Wildflowerhour still in Crete - so much to report! Adiantum capillus-veneris, Ephedra foeminea, Crithmum maritimum, Phoenix theophrasti.
🌱
November 5, 2023 at 8:42 PM
#wildflowerhour in Crete this week. Narcissus deficiens, Prospero autumnale, Cyclamen graecum subsp. candicum, Biarum davisii. All seen in flower today.
Collections for @herbarium.bsky.social. 🌱🌿
November 5, 2023 at 8:06 PM
Spectacular views while botanising in Zaros gorge & Rouvas forest today. On the way up everyone we passed said "it's really windy up there." It was!
Crete has so much scenery they've had to fold the landscape to fit it all in😁
🌱🌿 #botany
November 4, 2023 at 5:29 PM
Prospero autumnale agg. ✅
Muscari comosum (Leopoldia comosa)✅
Drimia maritima ✅
Sterbergia lutea subsp. lutea ✅
Cyclamen creticum ❎ - it's spring flowering but hoping for leaves.
Above Zaros lake, Crete.
🌱🌿 #botany
Fieldwork for @herbarium.bsky.social
November 4, 2023 at 5:17 PM
Did the olive trunk inspire the ancient pillar design? Near the Temple of Apollo, Gortina. #Fieldwork #Botany 🌱
Drimia maritima in plenty around here. @herbarium.bsky.social
November 3, 2023 at 7:08 PM
Today's botanical treats in Crete. Drimia numidica, Muscari comosum (Leopoldia comosa), Prospero autumnale agg. X2
Part of research @herbarium.bsky.social on climate change and Mediterranean plant evolution.
@konyveskalman.bsky.social
November 2, 2023 at 7:19 PM
As a native of Essex, I am amazed to meet this rather specialist washing powder for the first time in Crete. 😂
November 2, 2023 at 3:24 PM
Erica manipuliflora, Prospero autumnale, Cistus creticus, Phoenix theophrasti all seen today. #Crete #Botany 🌱🌿
@herbarium.bsky.social @konyveskalman.bsky.social
November 1, 2023 at 8:41 PM
Drimia, Sterbergia, Prospero and Cyclamen featured as today's main geophytes in central Crete today. Collecting for
@herbarium.bsky.social 🌿🌱
October 31, 2023 at 9:20 PM