Botanical University Challenge

Annual contest UK & Irish university student teams about botanical knowledge. First rounds February 2026, finals and festival August at Uni Reading.

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

The crowdfunder for #BUC2026, specifically the 4th Student Botany Festival in August, is underway. This event has such an impact on UK & Irish students keen on botany. Look at https://t.co/mugDnlbNZE
Keep them smiling! Please donate or share!!

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Evolution of Trees. Fascinating fossils, DNA, physiology, climate change. Speakers Jenny McElwain Trinity College Dublin, Christopher Berry Cardiff Uni & Bill Baker Kew. Teams from all in Botanical University Challenge. Prof McElwain asked questions 2025.
https://t.co/KjS44uMMA4

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Beautiful plant flowering now, pasqueflower, Pulsatilla vulgaris, now grows only in a few unimproved chalk & limestone grasslands in England, not elsewhere in UK or Ireland. Perennial plant but numbers declining. More common in rest of Europe - and in gardens! #BUC2026

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Ginger originates from maritime SE Asia. The current plant does not exist in the wild. Domesticated and adapted by people over at least 7000 years. First spread around the Pacific, later to Middle East, Europe and the Americas. Now used in so many cuisines worldwide. #BUC2026

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Purple saxifrage, common in high arctic and high mountains just about makes it into UK and Ireland. Spring flowers, from March to May. #BUC2026

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Not often moss & fungus feature on BBC News. Heath-star moss Campylopus introflexus & fungus Bryoscyphus granulosus that causes moss to die back. Work by group including George Greiff who competed in the earliest Botanical University Challenges! #BUC2026
https://t.co/UXW7D6sF9x

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) inspired 1883 wallpaper design by May Morris, daughter of William & Jane Morris. Popular design still available today. The design, with some writing about printing it, is on the left, and the finished wallpaper on the right. #BUC2026

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

News about the Botanical University Challenge #BUC2026 Crowdfunder! It has been extended into July - so if you were about to get round to donating, you havn't missed it!

See what it is about via QR code or:
https://t.co/9Wh3A6eBp6

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Another plant ID question. Name the plant that has the pale yellow flowers at the top of the tree. It is growing in the west of England. #BUC2026 Only 1 day left on the Botanical University Challenge crowdfunder. To support us through it - do it now!

https://t.co/busl0xyFqz

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Azolla, fern that lives on water. Individual plants look lovely, but can spread to cover lakes, canals and so block light from other plants. #BUC2026

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Only 4 days to go on the BUC Crowdfunder https://t.co/9Wh3A6eBp6 ! Paeonies, lovely late-spring garden flowers in temperate region like UK & Ireland. Unusual taxonomy - only one genus in the family. #BUC2026

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Another question from a past Botanical University Challenge Contest. Who wrote the book 'Finding the Mother Tree'? #BUC2026 https://t.co/v9v6BAabo0

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

About 10% of flowering plant species are orchids (family Orchidaceae). Spectacular wild flowers, surprisingly common in urban UK. The around 28,000 species are rarely foods (but vanilla, salep) but valuable in horticulture for flowers. #BUC2026
https://t.co/kCAu4aZgXH

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Botanical University Challenge #BUC2026 likes to try different social media. In latest issue newsletter, read students' experiences with Advent Botany on TikTok!
https://t.co/v9v6BAabo0

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Plants are sources of complex chemicals that can be used as medicines for humans. Vincristine (Oncovin) can be used in some cancer therapies. Now made synthetically, it was initially extracted from Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus. #BUC2026

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Only 11 days to go! Let's see how far we can get with the Botanical University Challenge Crowdfunder to support this year's Student Botany Festival in August. Read all about it at:
https://t.co/9Wh3A6eBp6

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Black bryony and white bryony. Names make them sound similar. Both climb up things, both green plants, both have red berries, but otherwise, how similar are they really? Not so much! #BUC2026

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Name this fern! A question from a past Botanical University Challenge contest.
#BUC2026 #ferns #plants #loveplants

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Botanical #joke! What more can I say? Comes from The Thymes, newsletter Botanical University Challenge #BUC2026 #plants #loveplants

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Read about a real rocket scientist in current issue of Botanical University Challenge newsletter. From liking plants, finding them through a biological sciences degree to starting a career in research with them. #BUC2026 @peter_walley @hartwell_james

https://t.co/v9v6BAabo0

[Botanical University Challenge @BUCBotany]

Another team about Botanical University Challenge #BUC2026. Team Rage Against the Rhododendron from University of Galway/Ollscoil na Gaillimhe. Amazingly, still has word Botany in description of its plant-related degree!!

Read their whole account at:
https://t.co/v9v6BAabo0