Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't

A reminder: the ads on this podcast (as well as most podcasts) are terrible. You can get AD-FREE versions of this podcast episode on the crime pays patreon (https://www.patreon.com/CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt)Dave Farina is the host of the "Professor Dave Explains" youtube channel, an educational youtube series exploring a wide variety of scientific topics and offering free eduational tutorials on subjects ranging from human evolution to organic chemistry to arthropod taxonomy. In recent years, he has published a number of videos debunking pseudo-science quacks, charlatans, creationists, and flat-earthers. Can't stand the ads? All episodes of the CPBBD podcast are on the Patreon, ad-free, for $5 a month at: https://www.patreon.com/CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt

David Keller is a historian and archaeologist from West Texas who based out of Alpine, Texas.

Originally recorded as a class lecture, this podcast episode contains information on root structures and shoots and is accompanied by the PDF found at : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vA_n1OWw2PpUJSqn3m5lbSOymH_aARB7/view?usp=drivesdkas well as chapters 23,24,&25 of "Raven Biology of Plants" textbook which can be downloaded for free on libgen.is in PDF form and read on a tablet.We cover : Apical Meristems, Lateral Meristems (and why monocots don't have any), root caps, cortex, endodermis, pericycle, , xylem, phloem and the components of each.

This is the spoken part of a lecture that was presented for patreon subscribers and students on the patreon. To see the accompanying PDF and hear ad-free podcast episodes sign up for the crime pays patreon at patreon.com/crimepaysbutbotanydoesntWe talk about the basic elements of plant identification, how it ties into plant evolution,  evolutionary trees aka cladograms, what "phylogeny" means and why monophyletic" and "synapomorphies" are such important terms.

A reminder: the ads on this podcast (as well as most podcasts) are terrible. You can get AD-FREE versions of this podcast episode on the crime pays patreon (https://www.patreon.com/CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt)In this episode we talk about Paronychia congesta, one of Texas' Rarest Plants, which grows on Caliche barrens in Jim Hogg County, as well as Caliche blazing stars, the Crested Peyote of West Texas, planting native plant gardens at Amada's House in Mirando City,and plenty more.

I became fixated on lycophytes because of some of the cool desert-dwelling members of the genus Selaginella, not to mention the utterly weird "clubmosses" that thrive in places as disparate as Northern Wisconsin and the slopes of volcanoes in New Zealand, but in this episode botanist Jeff Benca tells us about his work with relatives of the genus Isoetes ("Quillworts") and how their 250 million year old relatives might have been able to survive the biggest extinction in Earth's history, otherwise known as the Permian Extinction or "The Great Dying".Jeff's IG : @jeffbencaFB : Jeff BencaThumbnail is Phlegmariurus dalhousianus, photo by Jeff Benca. Other species mentioned in this episode is Lycopodium vestidum. Extinct species mentioned here that were thriving during the Permian Extinction Event and are related to Isoetes are Pleuromeia and Annalepis. Compounds that volcanic dykes and sills interacted with that were locked up in salt deposits and related to UV shield degradation during the Permian Extinction Event were methyl bromide and methyl chloride.

A rant about West Texas Pines and the sand blazing star. At the 40 minute mark we begin our dive into the convoluted, confusing but utterly cool phenomenon of Alternation of Generations we talk mostly about Bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) and Lycophytes ("spikemosses" and "clubmosses"), and the ferns, but not gymnosperms or angiosperms). This turns into more of a "lesson" on the subject than a podcast episode. Key terms to remember : Gametophyte (haploid), Sporophyte (diploid)Haploid - 1 set of chromosomes aka 1 copy of the genomeDiploid - 2 sets of chromosomes aka 2 copies of the genome (one as a backup copy)Meiosis (takes a diploid cell and produces haploid daughter cells, two of which later come together to form a diploid zygote/sporophyte)Mitosis (Cell divides and produces cells identical to whatever the parent cell was, whether that parent cell was haploid or diploid. Mitosis doesn't reduce the chromosome number by half). Meiosis is synonymous with sex/reproduction/the production of haploid cells).Evolutionary lineages referenced in this episode and their phylogenetic classification:Bryophytes (An informal paraphyletic classification used to refer to the non-vascular Phyla Anthocerotophyta (hornworts), Marchantiophyta (liverworts), and Bryophyta (mosses) Lycophytes : Class Lycopodiopsida, contains 3 orders: Lycopodiales (1 Family : Lycopodiaceae; 3 Subfamilies : Huperzioideae, Lycopodielloideae, Lycopoideae), Selaginellales (1 family : Selaginellaceae), & Isoetales (1 family : Isoetaceae).Ferns : Class Polypodiopsida.Contains 4 Subclasses : Equisetidae (Horsetails), Marattiadae (Marratioid Bastards including Angiopteris evecta with 20' long fronds), Ophioglossidae (Whisk Ferns, Grape Ferns, Moonworts), and Polypodiidae (Leptosporangiate Ferns, aka the "classic" ferns including the majority of what people think of when they think of ferns including Maidenhairs, Cinnamon Ferns, Sensitive Ferns, Filmy Ferns, Forked Ferns, Cheilanthoid "Desert" Ferns, Mosquito Ferns, Tree Ferns, Aspleniums, etc.THUMBNAIL : Archegoniophore (haploid) and Non-photosynthetic Sporophyte (Diploid) of the Baja California liverwort Asterella palmeri, photo by Ken-Ichi Ueda

A conversation with Chemist, Genius, Botanist,, Propagator, & Madman Dan Hosage about Texas Native Plants, Texas History, and more.

NON-BOTANY PODCAST! This week's podcast is a conversation with my friend Jay Lesoleil,  political anthropologist and half the means behind the "Fucking Cancelled" podcast about right-wing populism, the failures of the American left, identitarianism, and how to build a non-insane American working class left.

Andrew Hipp is the director of the herbarium and Senior Sciensist and Researcher in Plant Systematics at Morton Arboretum in Chicago. This is one of the most fun and inspiring conversations I've had in a while, and it's about one of the most ecologically important genera of plants in the Northern Hemisphere : THE OAKS (genus Quercus).In this episode we talk about the 13,000 year old Palmer's Oak in the California Desert, what the hell "Delayed Fertilization" is (hint: it's not common but it's ubiquitous in all members of genus Quercus), Oak Evolution, we go in depth explaining oak pollination and flower morphology and how acorns develop and disperse, how acorns can stand get a bite taken out of them by a squirrel and still germinate, and what overall f*cking beasts of organisms oak tree and scrub oaks are. We also talk about the future of oaks, how oaks will deal with climate change, how oaks dealt with the incredibly hot temperatures during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), why there's so much oak diversity in Mexico, the multitude of ecological services oaks provide and the numerous ecological relationships oaks foster within a plant community, landscape and regional setting. This was a fun conversation and massively enlightening.Pre-Order Andrew's Book at : https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo236998258.htmlOak Taxonomic Tree (as inferred from molecular genomic data)Oak Subgenus Cerris : EurasiaOak Subgenus Quercus : North AmericaSubgenus Quercus, section Lobatae (Red Oaks)Subgenus Quercus section QuercusSubgenus Quercus section VirentesSubgenus Quercus section PonticaeSubgenus Quercus section Protobalanus