This year's EOY greetings from #Downingherbarium features
Aussie plants with traditional English Christmas common names: Mt Blackwood Holly(near Mackay) Graptophyllum ilicifolium; Creeping Aust Ivy Leafed Violet (E. Aust) Viola hederacea; & Mistletoe, Muellerina eucalyptoides(sthn Qld to Sth Aust)🎄

This cute little fella just wanted to share my coffee today ☕️. Very gentle little tap tap tap to get my attention. #Ibis aka #binchicken

#PlantoftheWeek from #Downingherbarium Sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum... Did you know C4 photosynthesis was an Australian - Brisbane discovery? We take sugar for granted. Consuming 180+ million tons - every year, largely in processed foods. However, origins of commercial sugar are quite complex.

A legacy of genetic entanglement with wolves shapes modern dogs | PNAS (pretty sure our orange tantrum throwing cat is more wolf-like than our rottweiler x) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

A Cultural Cacophony ... Volume of papers put together by Andrew Simpson & me, from the Museums Australia national conference ten years ago. Where does the time go?
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

You Gotta Believe ... always a favorite

vimeo.com/253135841?fl...

Another from the #DowningHerbarium #PlantoftheWeek archives "Flowers for the #Christmas Festive Season" - December in Sydney is riot of colour - Jacarandas, Flame trees, Silky Oaks, Christmas Bush, Agapanthus, Cape Chestnuts... reminding us that summer has arrived. @zygodon.bsky.social @mqnatsci

Travel by train to Katoomba, or from Bundanoon to Tallong in late Oct. to Nov., & you will be greeted by meadows of golden-yellow daisies, Coreopsis lanceolata. Not native but make a spectacular show in their naturalised habitats. #PlantoftheWeek #DowningHerbarium @zygodon.bsky.social @mqnatsci

#ICOMDubai2025 -An absolute treat to be able to attend last month! Abstracts linked here are from joint sessions of CIMUSET, CIPEG, NATHIST with #UMAC; & then IC's day for UMAC at AUS Library - American University of Sharjah: umac.icom.museum/wp-content/u...

An appropriate post for December in Australia, by Alison Downing from appropriately named #DowningHerbarium - "...assumed nectar seeking birds pollinate Christmas Bells but astonished to find out they are self-pollinating & ants facilitate the movement of pollen within the flowers" #PlantoftheWeek