In the 18th century, botany was a contested space: on the one hand, an acceptable discipline for women to engage with; on the other, a treacherous field of study beset by (gasp!) the perils of intellectual rigor and plants' sexual reproduction. We speak with Katie Sagal, a research fellow at the Newberry, about how women authors and scientists navigated the botanical terms of engagement to expand their roles in scientific and literary communities. --- (Intro music: "Two Types of Awakenings" by Nheap)