Salix (Willow) science: from traditional wicker crafts to biodiversity’s critical taxonomy
Dr Les Tucker, Dundee University
Thursday 16th May 2024, 6pm
Lecture Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
The lecture will be followed by the AGM
Title: Salix (Willow) science from traditional wicker crafts to biodiversity’s critical taxonomy
Abstract: Les Tucker’s presentation will combine discussion of the taxonomic problems of the Salicaceae, with examples of traditional Celtic green-weaving and mass-produced willow products.
He will use R.D. Meikle’s 1984 BSBI Handbook No. 4 on Poplars & Willows of Britain and Ireland to identify and name candidate plants. Some persistent challenges and controversial recent proposals in salicological taxonomy will be considered briefly, and a scenic review of wild and cultivated Pussy Willows will be given.
The traditional home-made Celtic style of green-weaving creels, skulls, etc., from locally-grown and coppiced rods, often includes more-or-less wild species. Traditional items will be shown and contrasted with the usual products of factory-style mass production, which uses a few centrally cultivated, mechanically processed, commercially transported, and traded supplies of standard materials.
Bio: Les is an amateur botanist and craftsman, having mostly just picked up such expertise incidentally; during his childhood and occasional later vacations on family farms in Cornwall, Devon, and Donegal; latterly, on retirement, as a member of BSBI, PSNS, and RHS, during field studies and associated projects. Professionally, he was an academic chemist, specialising in studies of natural products, particularly the structures and properties of carbohydrates in complex compounds like antibiotics and polysaccharides.
