🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡We think of insects, especially bees, as pollinators. But what has this cheeky bat been up to? Yes, licking up nectar and getting covered in pollen! Some plants have designed their flowers to attract bats and for these mammals to be their pollinators. #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 What to do about invasive plants? Skunk cabbage, nice native plant in American Pacific Northwest, attractive garden plant around water in Europe (despite strong smell from flowers) - but can move to UK countryside and thrive - invasive plant!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
#BUC2026

Most of us eat and use Gum Arabic (E414) without being aware of what it is and where it comes from? Do you know where Gum Arabic comes from? A past question from Botanical University Challenge! #BUC2026 #food

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 How do trees prepare for leaves to drop off in autumn/fall? How can you tell when a leaf is ready to go? Organised process - abscission! #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 Annual Europe-wide contest for Tree of the Year. UK entry is The Bendy Tree, a wind-sculpted wych elm, probably planted along the seafront promenade in mid-1800s. #BUC2026
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-...

6🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 Where do perfumes, fragrances, aftershave come from? Some components are from wild plants. Chemical synthesis can replace some, getting better. Also the understanding of how humans perceive scents. Can AI take this further? #BUC2026
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

🌿🌾🌳🌍🍞🎼Jonathan Mitchley's family have told us they would like to share information about his funeral & donations in his memory.

The botanical community has lost a champion.

He touched so many lives for the better.

www.abwalker.co.uk/funeral/jona...

#BUC2016 - #BUC2026 #plants #music

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 So what is this mysterious plant from the Saxifragaceae, that favours growing in the west of Britain and especially Ireland?

St Patrick's Cabbage,
Cabáiste an mhadra rua, Saxifrage spathularis. #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡Finally here's a picture of a flowering plant species in the Saxifragaceae with a very limited distribution across Britain and Ireland (mostly in Ireland). What is its name? #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 Some questions in Botanical University Challenge give increasing amounts of information about a UK/Irish plant species, but fewer points to score. See the starting information for one species. Any guesses? More information later! #BUC2026 Map thanks to @bsbibotany.bsky.social

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 Some African species of Acacia have lipid-rich detachable tips on the pinnules (leaflets) of leaves. They are believed to have evolved in a symbiotic relationship with ants. What is the name of these tips? #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡Wildlife now on tunnelling spoil from HS2, become scarce nutrient-poor chalk grassland not previous high quality agricultural land. Includes knapweed, wild carrot, lady's bedstraw, pyramidal orchid - and insects & birds that need these plants. #BUC2026
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 Lots of relationships between insects & plants. Some beneficial to both. Plant structures in picture are to house insects like ants that predate on other insects. Plant gets some predators removed; insects get shelter & food. But what name is given to these structures? #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 Genus Coffea, family Rubiaceae. C. arabica (Arabica coffee) and C. canephora (Robusta coffee) are major world crops. Originates highlands now Ethiopia and Sudan. C. arabica is a natural hybrid between C. canephora & C. eugenioides. #BUC2026 #NationalCoffeeDay

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 This northern Scottish grassland is covered in buds for flowers that are a late summer treat in UK & Ireland chalk/limestone/alkaline grassland. But what genus do they belong to? (Seed-heads of a different genus & species near front of photo - bonus points for its name!) #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 Some fruits & vegetables are now eaten all over the world, like onions, while other are little-known outside their home region. This green fruit is still mainly grown in their central American home, but is part of a more widely appreciated cuisine. What is it? #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡Beautiful autumnal flowers and fruits in grassland in northern Scotland. But what are the names of the flowering and fruiting plants? #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 Plant flavours often originally evolved to protect plants from predators - animals and insects that liked to eat them! The strong flavour of cabbages, now reduced by plant breeders, so more palatable to humans, is an example. But what enzyme is a key part of the flavour system? #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡Insects can rely on specific plant species. Ivy flowers September - November. The solitary ivy bees emerge at same time to use this pollen & nectar. Arrived from Europe in UK 2001, moving N and W, now just reaching Ireland. #BUC2026

🌱🌾🌍🌺🍄🌳🌲🌿🍃🖌🐡 Colours & patterns on petals can look different to pollinating insects from the way humans see them. Patterns are visible in UV light but not seen by humans. Possible role as nectar guides. But what chemicals have plants evolved to make their UV visible appearance? #BUC2026