When you meet someone like today's guest, you hold on to them tightly and make them go hiking with you. I met Sarah Hecocks earlier this summer. She joined our research station as a seasonal avian tech. However, she wasn't into birds alone. Sarah has a deep passion for mosses, liverworts, and lichens alike. As such, we spent many hours in the woods geeking out over the often overlooked organisms. What follows is a recording of our final hike before she returned to California to start a new adventure. Sarah and I are not experts on bryophyte or lichen ID but we do hold a deep passion and appreciation for these plants. Armed with a hand lens and the recorder we set off into the woods to see what we could find! This episode was produced in part by Mark and Gregory.

Bogs are not a common occurrence in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. That's why when we heard rumors of a re spruce bog not far from where we are staying we had to check it out. Join my friends and I on a journey to find this bog. Along the way we met many different species of plants, fungi, and birds. What better way to spend the holiday weekend than geeking out in the woods with friends?

Bogs are not a common occurrence in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. That's why when we heard rumors of a re spruce bog not far from where we are staying we had to check it out. Join my friends and I on a journey to find this bog. Along the way we met many different species of plants, fungi, and birds. What better way to spend the holiday weekend than geeking out in the woods with friends?

Up until a little over a week ago I had no idea mountain camellia existed. Belonging to the same family of plants that give us tea, Stewartia ovata is something you have to see to believe. Had I not been briefed in advance, I probably would have thought I had stumbled into some sort of escaped garden cultivar. What follows is my first encounter with this lovely native tree. A group of us were guided by Stewartia expert, Jack Johnston on a fun adventure to see them in bloom. We were not disappointed.

Up until a little over a week ago I had no idea mountain camellia existed. Belonging to the same family of plants that give us tea, Stewartia ovata is something you have to see to believe. Had I not been briefed in advance, I probably would have thought I had stumbled into some sort of escaped garden cultivar. What follows is my first encounter with this lovely native tree. A group of us were guided by Stewartia expert, Jack Johnston on a fun adventure to see them in bloom. We were not disappointed.

If you have paid attention to flowering plant taxonomy over the last few decades you have undoubtedly come across the work of Dr.'s Pam and Doug Soltis. Evolutionary geneticists by training, these two have devoted their lives to figuring out the relationships between the world's flowering plants. This is no small task and the collaborative effort put forth is both astounding and inspiring.Their early efforts to tackle such relationships led to the birth of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG), which is now in its 4th iteration. Throughout their career, the Soltis Lab has been on the forefront of technological advances in genetics and conservation. Their work goes beyond theory and tackles difficult questions of not only what it means to be a species but also how to conserve plants in an age of accelerated climate change. This is one conversation you don't want to miss!

If you have paid attention to flowering plant taxonomy over the last few decades you have undoubtedly come across the work of Dr.'s Pam and Doug Soltis. Evolutionary geneticists by training, these two have devoted their lives to figuring out the relationships between the world's flowering plants. This is no small task and the collaborative effort put forth is both astounding and inspiring.Their early efforts to tackle such relationships led to the birth of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG), which is now in its 4th iteration. Throughout their career, the Soltis Lab has been on the forefront of technological advances in genetics and conservation. Their work goes beyond theory and tackles difficult questions of not only what it means to be a species but also how to conserve plants in an age of accelerated climate change. This is one conversation you don't want to miss!

People like Dr. Mark Whitten are why I started this podcast. In the context of botany, Mark is the real deal. He started his academic career studying the interaction between orchids from genera such as Stanhopea, Catasetum, and Gongora and the orchid bees (Euglossini) that utilize them for the complex perfumes they produce. Today Mark is working on the USA-China Biodiversity Project which has him scouring the Appalachian Mountains for disjunct flora shared by these two continents. I have had the honor of being able to interact and learn from Mark over the last few weeks and I would be remiss if I didn't get him on the podcast. This was a fascinating conversation that you are certainly going to enjoy!

People like Dr. Mark Whitten are why I started this podcast. In the context of botany, Mark is the real deal. He started his academic career studying the interaction between orchids from genera such as Stanhopea, Catasetum, and Gongora and the orchid bees (Euglossini) that utilize them for the complex perfumes they produce. Today Mark is working on the USA-China Biodiversity Project which has him scouring the Appalachian Mountains for disjunct flora shared by these two continents. I have had the honor of being able to interact and learn from Mark over the last few weeks and I would be remiss if I didn't get him on the podcast. This was a fascinating conversation that you are certainly going to enjoy!

A visit to The Field Museum in Chicago is always an adventure. You never know who you might run into. On a recent visit I had the honor of sitting down for a chat with one of the herbarium collections managers, Christine Niezgoda. She has dedicated her career to herbarium work and it was a wonderful experience to be able to pick her brain a bit. This episode was produced in part by Gregory.