This weekend members of  the eMonocot team will be found at the Lyme Regis Fossil festival passing on their enthusiasm about monocot plant. We will have a stand demonstrating project e-resources and also be leading two Monocot walks. The walks will  incorporate a mini bioblitz to record as many monocot plants of the area as possible. Keep an eye on the Lyme Regis Geo-Bio Blitz scratchpad to see what we find.  Lets hope for good weather.

Many Congratulations to Anna Haigh and her collaborators on the recent publication

Haigh, A. & Boyce, P. (2012). Araceae. In J.R. Timberlake & Martins, E.S. (eds.) Flora Zambesiaca Volume 12(1). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, pp. 1-54.

On the 3rd February Maria Vorontsova presented a Nature Live event at the Natural History Museum on Exploring the Grasslands of Madagascar. She talked about the species of grasses found on the island and if we should conserve these ecosystems.

Dioscoreaceae form the major part of a small but systematically and economically significant order of monocotyledons. The most diverse and important element of Dioscoreales is the yam genus, Dioscorea L., with over 600 accepted species names worldwide.

Join Paul Wilkin and Anna Trias Blasi at the Natural History Museum on the 23rd January where they will be presenting a Nature live event on snowdrops. Discover how snowdrops survive throughout the year and how scientists are keeping track of snowdrop diversity in the virtual world.

Chasing Madagascar forest grasses: collecting expedition 5 October – 8 November 2011

Maria S. Vorontsova

The first eMonocot Plenary meeting took place at Kew on the 27th January. It was the first time all the members of the team were brought together in one room and it was great to see the room so full. 

I am pleased to announce that eMonocot has begun. Most staff are in place with some additional members due to start in the New Year. You should  therefore begin to see more activity on this site over the next few months.

One of the first tasks for eMonocot is to gather system requirements. To help with this we invite you to participate in a short survey, it is open to all potential users of eMonocot.

Until the New Year have a great Christmas.