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Botanists with boundless knowledge

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Lynne Nadebaum

Little Desert National Park VIC Bush Blitz | Oct 2018

Today was so much fun. I started by heading out with a cool team of three exceptionally knowledgeable botanists (Val, Andre and Daniel) from the National Herbarium of Victoria at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne. What they don't know about plants in Australia is not worth knowing (probably).

In the morning, it was a quick trip to collect some fresh, groovy things for the community day. Then we met with the rest of the team of scientists to set up an interactive display for members of the Nhill community. About 120 people came through the doors and learnt about spiders, moths, plants, reptiles and the amazing areas where they live.

After lunch, out with the trio of botanists again, visiting an area around the (dried up) Lake Hindmarsh. While the area was interesting and varied, it was sadly very degraded, and full of weeds. Mind you, the botanists confidently state that every plant growing in a habitat that is not its original habitat is a weed. This means that all crops, and all improved pastures on agricultural lands, and all gardens are full of weeds.

At the end of the day I had learned how little I know about botany, and how skilled a clever taxonomist can be - identifying plants accurately and quickly, and separating them from other plants that looked disturbingly similar to me. I enjoyed the walks and the access to areas of the country I have seen little of, and there is so much to see.

Tomorrow, off with the spider team!