Armchair Botanist

The Armchair Botanist program is a collaboration among botanists, museum professionals, students, biodiversity informaticians, and you!

The scientific specimens curated by the BRIT Philecology Herbarium are carefully stored in museum cabinets in a climate-controlled facility, making them difficult to access. It is the goal of this program to make all our specimens available online (images and data) to further research and education. A digitized specimen is a tool that allows access to scientific vouchers and observations that span hundreds of years – an essential component to biological research, as well as any research that deals with past environmental change and future models.

This program includes activities such as presentations, transcription blitzes, and online community science activities to help liberate the scientific specimens that are held in public trust by FWBG | BRIT.

In 2023, we plan to have Armchair Botanist meetings over Zoom on the second Thursday of every month at 12:00 PM. Please check here for those links and for other events we host. If you’d like us to email you with information about our events and links to recorded meetings, sign up here.

Scheduled Activities

March 9th 12:00 PM over Zoom – Armchair Botanist Forum: March Madness!

Join us for Q&A on our current Crowdsourcing project followed by casual discussion on some native carnivorous and parasitic plants in Texas and how our herbarium specimens of these species can aid in important research.

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81789734152

Meeting ID: 817 8973 4152

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kGahooAL

Upcoming: April 13 (WeDigBio), May 11, June 8, July 13, August 10, September 14, October 12, November 9, December 14

Project Instructions

Below is a brief step-by-step introduction to our current project in the TORCH Crowdsourcing platform.

Below is a recording Zoom training going over the TORCH Crowdsourcing Project

Timeline:
00:00:00 – 00:03:46 Welcome and Introduction
00:03:47 – 00:06:31 Getting Started in TORCH (Symbiota)
00:06:32 – 00:14:56 Editing a Record
00:14:57 – 00:16:04 Resources for Volunteers
00:16:05 – 1:01:43 More Examples & Practice

Click Here for Resources for Volunteers

Thank you to everyone that participated in transcribing any of our 31 Notes from Nature expeditions. Since 2020, nearly 59,000 Texas specimens were transcribed with your help! We could not have done this without our armchair botanists.

We hope to finish the transcription of our Texas specimens this year with Symbiota Crowdsourcing! You can find available specimens to transcribe here: https://portal.torcherbaria.org/portal/collections/editor/occurrencetabledisplay.php?csmode=1&occindex=0&displayquery=1&reset=1&collid=370

Past Activities & Meetings

The Armchair Botanist zoom sessions have been running since April 2020. Please check back on this page for zoom invitations to future events.

2023: February 9: Plant Phenology: How Herbarium Specimens can Inform of us Nature’s Seasonal Changes

2023: January: Crowdsourcing Training Sessions

2022: December 8: Winter Tree ID!

2022: November 10: Past to Present: Indigenous Culinary Arts of Lower Turtle Island

2022: October 13: #WeDigBio! presentation on Women in Texas & Oklahoma botany

2022: September: #TranscriptionThursday (Sept. 1, 8, 15. 22, 29)

2022: August: #TranscriptionThursday (Aug. 4, 18, 25)

2022: July: NotesfromNature Training (July 5, 8) #TranscriptionThursday (July 7, 28); Quercus tardifolia discussion (July 21)

2022: June #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (June 2, Scotland presentation: 16. 23, 30)

2022: May #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (May 5, 12, 19)

2022: April #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Apr. 7th WeDigBio 2022 with special fern guest, Dr. Alejandra Vasco; 14, 21, 28)

2022: March #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Mar. 3, 10 17, 24, 31)

2022: February #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Feb. 10, 17, 24)

2022: January #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Jan. 12, 20, 27)

2021: December #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Dec. 1, 8, 15)

2021: November #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Nov. 3, 17)

2021: October #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Oct. 6, 20, 27) & WeDigBio event via Zoom (Oct. 14)

2021: September #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Sept.1:Special guest, Rachel Carmickle, talked about pitcher plants and bogs in Texas, Sept. 8, 15, 23, 29)

2021: August #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Aug. 4, 11, 18)

2021: July #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Jul. 7, 14, 21)

2021: June #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30)

2021: May #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (May 5, 12, 19, 26)

2021: April WeDigBio events via Zoom (Apr. 7-11) & #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Apr. 14, 21, 28)

2021: March #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Mar. 3, 17, 24, 31)

2021: February #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Feb. 3, 10, 17, 24)

2021: January #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Jan. 7, 14, 21) & #TranscriptionWednesday via Zoom (Jan. 27)

2020: December #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Dec. 3, 10, 17)

2020: November #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Nov. 5, 12, 19)

2020: October #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Oct. 1, 15, 22, 29);

2020: October 14: Private (virtual) Armchair Botanist event for registrants of the 2020 Texas Master Naturalist Virtual Annual Meeting

2020: October 15: WeDigBio Online Transcription Blitz from 1-4pm (central time) via Zoom. Learn more about the effort: www.wedigbio.org

2020: September #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Sep. 3, 10, 17, 24)

2020: August #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Aug. 6, 13, 20, 27)

2020: July #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Jul. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30)

2020: June #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Jun. 4, 11, 18, 25)

2020: May #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (May 14, 21, 28)

2020: May 7: #TranscriptionThursday with guest host: BRIT Fern Curator Dr. Alejandra Vasco

2020: April #TranscriptionThursday via Zoom (Apr. 23, 30)

2020: April 16-20: WeDigBio Lite Online-only Transcription Blitz using the Notes From Nature platform (Zoom interaction with BRIT staff on Fri., Apr. 17 at 4pm CDT, and Sat., Apr. 18 at 11am CDT., 28