Draba verna flowering. Image taken from: https://awkwardbotany.com/2018/05/23/tiny-plants-draba-verna/
Every year around this time I think about Aldo Leopold’s ode to Draba, a tiny, inconspicuous plant that can serve as an early sign of spring in some areas for the extra observant.
What can 120-year-old flower buds neatly pressed to paper teach you about climate change? As it turns out, a lot.
Nineteen botany students had the chance to dive into more than a century of California’s plant data this spring in an exploration of the nuances plant life using computer programming and statistical analyses.
Introduction:
Herbarium specimens are rich with information above and beyond what is written on the label. In particular, specimens can tell us the phenological phase of the plant, as evidenced by the presence of buds, flowers, or young leaves.
