It's Botany season!
Botany is the study of plants. Plants are living organisms that create their own energy using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. For this reason they are known as producers. There are over 300,000 species of plants worldwide! Plants include towering trees, breathtakingly beautiful flowers and curious insect-eaters such as the venus flytrap (native only to North Carolina!).
Botany Fun Fact
The North Carolina state tree is the longleaf pine and the state flower is the flowering dogwood.
More Botany Tips
Click on the resources below to learn more about plants:
- Arbor Day Foundation: What Tree is That?
- iNaturalist Project: Natural North Carolina
- North Carolina Native Plant Society
Botany resource apps:
- Audubon Trees
- Audubon Wildflowers
- Leaf Snap
- vTree
Earn Your Botany Badge
Jen Ward is a faculty member in UNC Asheville’s Biology Department, where she teaches classes in botany, genetics, and marine biology. Her research, which is funded by agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Science Foundation, surveys plant populations, discerns population genetic patterns, and investigates plant / pollinator interactions. Current focal species are either imperiled or invasive, and include American ginseng, oriental bittersweet, pitcher plants, and Virginia spiraea. She also leads course-based research experiences in plant phenology, which examine patterns in the timing of life history events like flower production. Dr. Ward maintains home gardens for permaculture and native pollinator habitat, works to eradicate invasive plants on public and private lands, and is passionate about educating students and citizens about plant life!