Biodiversity Blog
It got really cold. What does that mean for Texas biodiversity?
The February winter storm “Uri” saw temperatures drop into the single digits and stay below freezing for days. The last time Austin had single digit temperatures was in 1989, the year the Berlin wall fell, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade came out, and Taylor Swift was born. So, yeah. It’s been a while. Uri not only caused havoc for Texans and ou...
One Plant of Thousands
The Darwin specimen. (Click on image for larger view) International Darwin Day is observed on February 12, the day Charles Darwin was born. Darwin Day asks people to “reflect and act on the principles of intellectual bravery, perpetual curiosity, scientific thinking, and hunger for truth as embodied in Charles Darwin.” In 1831, when he was...
Meet Amber Horning!
Amber Horning is our new Assistant Curator in the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center. Amber comes from the University of Mississippi, and took some time out of her busy day to tell us a little about herself. Tell us where you came from before UT, and what you studied. This past May, I received my Master’s of Science from the Universi...Billie L. Turner Plant Resource Center Awarded Digitization Grant
The National Science Foundation recently awarded the Billie L. Turner Plant Resource Center a new grant for approximately $817,000. The grant extends over four years to complete the digitization of more than 500,000 herbarium specimens collected in the states of Texas and Oklahoma and housed in the herbaria, as well as those of 10 partner instituti... Biodiversity Day 2019
George Yatskievych, Curator of the Billie L. Turner Plant Resource Center, speaks with a student
Despite the smattering of rain and wind, campus and off-campus organizations partook in the annual Biodiversity Day near Gregory Gym on Wednesday, April 17th. This event was to spread awareness about sustainability, biodiversity, wellness, cli... CAMPUS BIODIVERSITY: Urban Orchids
For the observant visitor to the UT-Austin campus, the 40 Acres sometimes reveal botanical treasures. For example, not many local inhabitants are aware that the campus harbors native wild orchids. In recent weeks, the spring coral root orchids, Corallorhiza wisteriana have been experiencing an exceptionally good bloom.
Corallo... New Grant Funding for the UT Herbaria
Herbarium specimen of Sarracenia alata, a species of pitcher plant also known as yellow trumpets. This unusual species grows in nutrient poor, acidic wetlands from eastern Texas through the Gulf Coastal Plain to westernmost Florida.
Natural history museums and other biodiversity collections hold millions of historically and scie... Odd and Wonderful Nature
Bdallophytum americanum.
Every once in a while, we botanists discover things out in nature that, at first glance, appear to defy classification. The present photograph is a case in point. While botanizing in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, I stumbled upon weird little stout spikes up to four inches tall poking out of the ground. What wer... 
