@BUCBotany

Annual contest UK & Irish university student teams about botanical knowledge. First rounds February 2027, finals and festival July/August at Uni Aberdeen.

 UK
botanicaluniversitychallenge.co.uk/
Joined September 2019
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Best memories of Botanical University Challenge #BUC2026? Happy people sharing their plant knowledge and enthusiasm. Students, industry professionals, academics from around the UK and Ireland - all with botany an important part of their lives. Looking forward to #BUC2027!!
Lecture theatre, seats filled with smiling, waving people. Red/grey/black upholstery in the lecture theatre.

ALT Lecture theatre, seats filled with smiling, waving people. Red/grey/black upholstery in the lecture theatre.

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Plants and flowers have long been inspiration for decorations in homes and public buildings. The ceramic tiles filling the walls of Cardiff Free Library, Wales, are in designs based on plants. Practical and attractive wall covering. #BUC2026
Photos of Victorian tiles, designs based on plants. Stylised leaves and flowers form motifs that repeat across tiles.

ALT Photos of Victorian tiles, designs based on plants. Stylised leaves and flowers form motifs that repeat across tiles.

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Questions in Botanical University Challenge include plants from literature. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has classes in herbology and potion-making with lots of scope for plants. Which of these plants does not feature in theHarry Potter series of books? #BUC2026
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Gympie-gympie, stinging tree, suicide plant. One of the nettle family Urticaceae from Australian coastal rainforests. Germinates in gaps, so around roads and tree felling. Notorious for its extremely painful and long-lasting sting, where pain can last for months. #BUC2026
Picture shiny green leaves and small pink fruits. Also diagram of hair on plant leaves that injects toxins into any animal that touches or bites the leaf.

ALT Picture shiny green leaves and small pink fruits. Also diagram of hair on plant leaves that injects toxins into any animal that touches or bites the leaf.

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Corn dollies were traditionally made across Europe at harvest time, using tall & hollow-stemmed wheat varieties grown before the 'Green Revolution' of 1950s and 60s. They may have originated in pre-Christian religions. Now they are made as attractive country crafts. #BUC2026
pictures of corn dollies - decorations made by plaiting and otherwise folding stems of wheat into traditional 3D shapes.

ALT pictures of corn dollies - decorations made by plaiting and otherwise folding stems of wheat into traditional 3D shapes.

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We think of insects, especially bees, as pollinators. But what has this cheeky bat been up to? Yes, licking up nectar and getting covered in pollen! Some plants have designed their flowers to attract bats and for these mammals to be their pollinators. #BUC2026
Bat covered in pollen

ALT Bat covered in pollen

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What to do about invasive plants? Skunk cabbage, nice native plant in American Pacific Northwest, attractive garden plant around water in Europe (despite strong smell from flowers) - but can move to UK countryside and thrive - invasive plant! #BUC2026 bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6rr…
Man with knapsack sprayer and protective gear, surrounded by huge plants with massive leaves in woodland. Spraying herbicide to control the invasive plant.

ALT Man with knapsack sprayer and protective gear, surrounded by huge plants with massive leaves in woodland. Spraying herbicide to control the invasive plant.

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Most of us eat and use Gum Arabic (E414) without being aware of what it is and where it comes from? Do you know where Gum Arabic comes from? A past question from Botanical University Challenge! #BUC2026 #food
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#UKFungusDay What better in autumn than fungi? From iconic large multicoloured mushrooms to tiny, weeny, hardly visible ones, time for fungi to get spreading their spores. Want to know more about fungi? Why not try @BritMycolSoc as a start - local groups, workshops?
Red with white spots mushrooms round a tree

ALT Red with white spots mushrooms round a tree

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How do trees prepare for leaves to drop off in autumn/fall? How can you tell when a leaf is ready to go? Organised process - abscission! #BUC2026
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Annual Europe-wide contest for Tree of the Year. UK entry is The Bendy Tree, a wind-sculpted wych elm, probably planted along the seafront promenade in mid-1800s. #BUC2026 woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-w…
decidious tree, approx 200 y old, growing horizontally in townscape.

ALT decidious tree, approx 200 y old, growing horizontally in townscape.

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Where do perfumes, fragrances, aftershave come from? Some components are from wild plants. Chemical synthesis can replace some, getting better. Also the understanding of how humans perceive scents. Can AI take this further? theguardian.com/science/2026…

Making scents: could AI help perfumers take pressure off endangered plants?

Firms working on reproducing compounds without need for repeated harvesting but conservationists are sceptical

theguardian.com
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Jonathan Mitchley's family have told us they would like to share information about his funeral and donations in his memory. The botanical community has lost a champion. He touched so many lives for the better. abwalker.co.uk/funeral/jonat… #BUC2016 - #BUC2026 #plants #music
Man in academic garb.

ALT Man in academic garb.

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So what is this mysterious plant from the Saxifragaceae, that favours growing in the west of Britain and especially Ireland? St Patrick's Cabbage, Cabáiste an mhadra rua, Saxifrage spathularis. #BUC2026
Map outline of Britain and Ireland. Photo of plant

ALT Map outline of Britain and Ireland. Photo of plant

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Some questions in Botanical University Challenge give increasing amounts of information about a UK/Irish plant species, but fewer points to score. See the starting information for one species. Any guesses? More information later! #BUC2026 Map thanks to @BSBIbotany
Outline map of Britain and Ireland with coloured dots showing where a particular plant species has been recorded. Most dots in west and south-west Ireland. A few scattered across Wales, Scotland, England.

ALT Outline map of Britain and Ireland with coloured dots showing where a particular plant species has been recorded. Most dots in west and south-west Ireland. A few scattered across Wales, Scotland, England.

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Adding information to yesterday's distribution map of the plant across the UK and Ireland, the plant is a member of the Saxifraginaceae. What is its name? (More information tomorrow) #BUC2026
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Finally here's a picture of a flowering plant species in the Saxifragaceae with a very limited distribution across Britain and Ireland (mostly in Ireland). What is its name? #BUC2026
Picture of plant, its flowers and leaves

ALT Picture of plant, its flowers and leaves

outline map of British Isles with plant distribution data overlaid

ALT outline map of British Isles with plant distribution data overlaid

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Some African species of Acacia have lipid-rich detachable tips on the pinnules (leaflets) of leaves. They are believed to have evolved in a symbiotic relationship with ants. What is the name of these tips? #BUC2026
Leaves which have small pale yellow detachable tips to each leaflet.

ALT Leaves which have small pale yellow detachable tips to each leaflet.

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Named after Thomas Belt (1832 – 1878), geologist & naturalist from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who first described a relationship between Acacias and ants, seen as he worked as a mining geologist in Nicaragua. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas…

Thomas Belt - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org
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Lots of relationships between insects & plants. Some beneficial to both. Plant structures in picture are to house insects like ants that predate on other insects. Plant gets some predators removed; insects get shelter & food. But what name is given to these structures? #BUC2026
Brown-orange background. Cluster of white thorns on it. Two are swollen.

ALT Brown-orange background. Cluster of white thorns on it. Two are swollen.

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A domatium. Small chamber on plant occupied by arthropods, usually ants or mites. Plural is domatia. Considered produced by the plant as part of a beneficial mutualism, not induced by the inhabitants (as for galls). However, some thrips take a parasitic advantage of domatia.
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