Merrist Wood spring. Stachyurus praecox

EcologistGreg, on December 30, 2007, said:

Hi Ian

I am pretty sure that this is Stachyurus, a deciduous shrub from China and Japan. My parents had a nice one at the back door.

I welcome you to join those of us who use Panoramio to put up plant pictures and have usually tried to use the Genus (and epithet if possible) in the photo name. We also usually tie this to a family in the tags used to mark the photo (so another user can look at all 'Orchidaceae' for instance through the tags link at the front page). As I said, I welcome you to join those of us who do, but certainly don't expect it. And if help is needed we are happy to do that too.

Welcome to the Panoramio community.

Cheers, Greg in Inverell, NSW.

ian.r, on December 31, 2007, said:

Quite correct, its Stachyurus praecox and your parents have good taste! Its the most beautiful of spring shrubs and always attracts great interest from the garden design students every year.

orkology by Greg S, on December 31, 2007, said:

Hi Ian

That they do. The garden's previous owner (predating when dad took over ownership in 1954) had it set up as a display garden. While the garden went to rack and ruin (well, weeds and what-nots...) there are still some elements of the original gardens that are hard to find elsewhere, such as Clerodendrum ugandense and Iochroma grandiflorum. Zooming in on my parents place will give you access to a range of photos taken in their yard. At one stage I had counted in excess of 1200 species on the property (although about 600 were species of orchids) - not bad for a 1500 sq.m. block.

So, it's refreshing to see someone is still teaching botany. It is a diminishing subject here. As a professional botanist employed by the NSW government I get to see the quality of many of the Natural Resources focussed workers in our part of northern NSW and sometimes it scares me how little they know.

I guess you are in a Tertiary institution - rather like our TAFE colleges? Please advise me if wrong. Also, if you find any pictures on the Orkology pages that could be of use in teaching, feel free to use (with appropriate referencing of course!)

Good to meet a kindred soul.

Cheers, Greg

ian.r, on December 31, 2007, said:

Thanks Greg

I teach Botany, plant pathology and tree surgery within the Arboriculture dept at Merrist Wood college which is a mainly Further Education land (focused) based establishment in Surrey.

And yes education is more about pleasure than rigour nowdays so the results are perhaps painful to those of us that spent days learning long lists of latin names and tested on a leaf or petal!

Mind you the good ones that got the bug have made me proud and one or two a year will keep me teaching through the low points.

I like the sound of the Panoramio plant community and will adust my plant stuff accordingly but we need a specific global plant database as I have about 60 Gb of tree / Herbaceous pics alone...any ideas?

Happy new year

Ian

orkology by Greg S, on December 31, 2007, said:

Thanks for the well-wishing Ian, and likewise a Happy New Year to you.

It is not so much the familiarity with names and memorising that I was referring, as much as the ability to follow due process and come up with a name, and the persistence to keep on with the task to come up with a name, or have the ability to minimise inaccuracy. Even a friend who has ties to TAFE has pointed out that the teaching of plant-related subjects in Horticulture now doesn't require students to be familiar with plant families and their characteristics, something that concerned both of us. How can students be sure of what they are selecting (or have selected for them) if they can't recognise that what they are planting doesn't fit the description of it as per the literature? I have seen an increasing number of poorly and incorrectly tagged plants, even in nurseries where you would assume there was a high level of god plant knowledge (such as those run by State Forests). It doesn't help the situation when they can't identify the mistake and it then gets propagated (pardon the pun) through the community, and the situation I often run into when someone will assure you of the name for something, even if you know better. Common names also don't help, and as much as possible I try and avoid using them.

Although pleasure may be the intent of education, there is still the need to ensure that there is an adequate knowledge backing up the students that are produced. I do agree, you get a couple that keep you plodding on with the rest, but it's the rest that worry me.. ;) I came across a book review a year or two ago that was written on the very subject of why it is that botany is falling behind in the general university courses available. The author(s) suggested that the fact that many students are failing to get a wide exposure to plants in their formative years (maybe having a dozen or so identifiable plant species around them as they start to develop an interest in the natural world) that is the cause of a lowering level of interest and of aptitude. The students are seeing plenty of animal related information, but can also make the logical assumption that many of them they are unlikely to see in the wild, even if they were working in the field. Plants also lack movement of a scale we can assess, and that also makes them 'less interesting'.

Now, to the other issue. Like you I have a large collection of photographs and imagery. The selection on Panoramio is merely a taste of these I have. While I am trying to get as many species as possible to be on Panoramio, often they are not the really good shots, but useful for identification purposes. I also take the time to minimise the images I put onto Panoramio to about a quarter of their original size (and usually less than 100KB each) to increase the number I can load onto the site. As to a more general site, there are some available, but most charge. This has been the best opportunity to get them out there for free that I have found so far.

I hope to put the CD-rom material onto a PPV (pay-per-view) or subscription service in the future, but that is currently without a time line.

Cheers, Greg

thor☼odin™, on December 22, 2008, said:

oh, wow a very interesting dialogue here :) And indeed the Stachyurus is a treasured plant here also!.. Your shot is amazing Ian close to 3D!

Greetings of the festive season, Peter