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#123089 - 10/29/09 01:50 PM Seed Nerds
billstephenson Offline
Moderator

Registered: 02/07/07
Posts: 3917
Loc: Ozark Mountains in SW Missouri
Yesterday I was invited to guide a group of Botanist from the Shaw Nature Reserve in Eureka, MO to some glades in the Mark Twain NF near here so they could collect seeds for a seed bank where they'll freeze them for use in case of emergencies.

If you thought computers geeks were nerdy you ain't seen nothing. The seven of them, five women and two men, walked as slow as turtles over the glades and they knew then names of every plant out there, except one, which of course caused a great deal of excitement.

Try as I might, I couldn't remember the names of those plants 10 seconds after they told them to me (Except "Ladies Trusses" which are a cute little orchid wink.

It was incredibly cool to tag along and very enlightening to see what excited them. I even got to teach them one thing. There was a centipede (or millipede) that locals here call "Amaretto Bugs" curled up next to the unidentified plant they were looking at and one of them pointed it out. I told them what we call them and that if you pick one up and smell it they smell just like "Amaretto". One of them looked at me like I was pulling their leg, but they picked it up and sniffed it and confirmed what I had said. They passed that little bug all around and all were pretty much amazed. They said they don't have them where they work, and had never heard of them before.

Before they left one came over with a leaf that had a tiny caterpillar on it she called a "Rose Slug Caterpillar". It was a cute little thing and I had never seen one of them before.


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#123090 - 10/29/09 02:11 PM Re: Seed Nerds [Re: billstephenson]
Heber Offline
member

Registered: 12/31/07
Posts: 245
Loc: St. Louis, Missouri
Boy I admire those kind of people. I am interested in plants and insects but for the life of me I can't remember their names. So while I'm hiking I end up looking around and saying to myself "hmm, there's another one of those whatchamacallums"


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#123094 - 10/29/09 03:02 PM Re: Seed Nerds [Re: billstephenson]
ringtail Offline
member

Registered: 08/22/02
Posts: 2296
Loc: Colorado Rockies
At Colorado State that is a normal person.

Did they look like this?

http://seedlab.colostate.edu/Staff.htm

_________________________
"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not."
Yogi Berra

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#123096 - 10/29/09 03:09 PM Re: Seed Nerds [Re: billstephenson]
Zalman Offline
member

Registered: 10/25/09
Posts: 97
Loc: Olympic Peninsula, Washington,...
Originally Posted By billstephenson
Before they left one came over with a leaf that had a tiny caterpillar on it she called a "Rose Slug Caterpillar".


How did it smell? wink
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It's easy to be a holy man on top of a mountain.
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#123107 - 10/29/09 04:50 PM Re: Seed Nerds [Re: ringtail]
kevonionia Offline
member

Registered: 04/17/06
Posts: 1322
Loc: Dallas, TX
food:

Quote:
Did they look like this?


That's pretty funny. grin

bill, they've got a similar bug down in Mexico that smells a little different; they call it bicho de kahlua ("kahlua bug.")
_________________________
- kevon

(avatar: raptor, Lake Dillon)


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#123152 - 10/30/09 07:24 AM Re: Seed Nerds [Re: Zalman]
mlipo Offline
member

Registered: 09/22/08
Posts: 15
Do not meddle in the affairs of seed nerds, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

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#123159 - 10/30/09 09:53 AM Re: Seed Nerds [Re: billstephenson]
Haiwee Offline
member

Registered: 08/21/03
Posts: 330
Loc: Southern California
For several years I did some work for The Theodore Payne Foundation , an organization devoted to native California plants. They have a seed bank of annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees native to our state. Very interesting people, and I learned a lot from them.
_________________________
My blog on politics, the environment and the outdoors: Haiwee.blogspot.com

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#123166 - 10/30/09 12:17 PM Re: Seed Nerds [Re: Zalman]
billstephenson Offline
Moderator

Registered: 02/07/07
Posts: 3917
Loc: Ozark Mountains in SW Missouri
Quote:
How did it smell?


I didn't take the time to find out, but it tasted awful sick

Quote:
Did they look like this?


YES! What's the deal, do they have their own fashion and style trends going or what?

Quote:
Do not meddle in the affairs of seed nerds, for they are subtle and quick to anger


Whoops, I take it all back. (Now I'm worried they'll sabotage my garden with weed seed frown

_________________________
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"You want to go where?"



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#123190 - 10/31/09 12:01 AM Re: Seed Nerds [Re: billstephenson]
Tango61 Offline
member

Registered: 12/27/05
Posts: 931
Loc: East Texas Piney Woods

My Dad was an agronomist (PhD in Agronomy) and was a seed 'breeder'. He did research in cotton and soybeans and was well known for his research in sunflowers.

He knew a lot of the Latin names for various plants in our Texas Panhandle area but he also taught me about common plants (and their names) and how to find them and use them - prickly pear cactus, pencil cholla (strawberry type fruit), ephedra, cattails, wild grapes, etc. As a young boy, it was always fascinating to go out with him.

Now, when I take our Scouts out in East Texas they ask me about plants and I have to confess that I don't know them since I didn't grow up here. But, we get to learn together and that makes things interest I think.
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If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you can't. Either way, you're right.

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