Women in Science & moss on the bus stop
Today, 11th February, is International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Ellen Hutchins was a serious scientist years before the word scientist was invented (in 1833). Most of her botanising round the shores of Bantry Bay and in the Caha mountains between 1805 and 1813 was done alone, but she does write about a young girl who helped her collecting seaweeds from the rocks and in her work room when she was making specimens or painting.
Ellen showed a great appreciation of beauty in the plants she found, referring to them as ‘treasures’ and ‘exquisite little beauties’. She was particularly enamoured of the magnified details of plants seen under her microscope. She wrote to Dawson Turner:
‘I am very glad you liked Conferva dissiliens. You could not but like so wonderful a plant. I spent five days admiring it and often wished your eye had been in place of mine.’ (Ellen to Dawson Turner, 7 December 1812, Trinity College Cambridge.)
How much do we appreciate the tiny plants that are on our doorstep, or indeed, as in the photo above, our bus stop? It’s the Grey-cushioned Grimmia, (Grimmia pulvinata) on the concrete bus stop pole. It’s easy to overlook mosses, but they are so important to our world, for carbon capture and producing oxygen for us to breathe. Also, they can be very beautiful.
In Ireland you are never far from a moss. They can be very rewarding to study up close. There are surprisingly beautiful details to be seen through a hand lens or by enlarging it on your phone camera.
See our DIY Festival days for ways to engage with nature on your doorstep, tomorrow or any other day. There is a DIY day on mosses and another on lichens.
https://ellenhutchins.com/diy-festival/