TODAY'S HOURS: 8 AM – 6 PM

TODAY'S HOURS: 8 AM – 6 PM

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 

Armchair Botanist Forum on Thursday, October 12th @ 12:00 PM CT: WeDigBio!

Meeting ID: 815 6344 4728
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ksNnUqePt
 
Email herbarium@brit.org if you have any questions about our current transcription project.

Upcoming: 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

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: September 14: Exploring Peru’s Breathtaking Flora: Discoveries from the Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program 

2023: August 10: Summer Floristic Survey of Silphium Prairie at Rock Creek Ranch Park

2023: July 13: Decoding the Botanical Enigma: Empowering Plant Identification through Dichotomous Keys

2023: May 11: Springtime in Nowhere

2023: April 13: WeDigBio! From Pressed Plants to Pixels

2023: March 9: March Madness! Carnivorous and Parasitic Plants of Texas

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

Happy Botanizing!

Department

Herbarium

Point of Contact

Tiana Franklin Rehman

Director of the Herbarium & Collections Manager

Phone: (817) 546-1845

Email: trehman@brit.org

Ways to Engage

BRIT Facebook

BRIT Twitter

NotesfromNature talk: @jbest@trehman, and @abordelon