Hello there, I’m Rae. Welcome to my plant diary!

I’ve decided recently to embark on a journey to explore the wonderful world of botany through this Ohio Plants course. Obviously, I can’t learn everything about plants in such a short period of time, but it felt like a great start!

I am a third-year Evolution and Ecology major primarily interested in learning about aquatic ecosystems and how they function. That field may seem a bit far from botany, but learning about Ohio’s plants is important to further understanding Ohio’s aquatic areas.

Above is my “Coat of Arms” that describes some aspects of my life outside of academics:

• The design itself is based on my favorite group of plants: scorpion grasses or forget-me-nots.
• The shark symbol is included not only because it is my favorite animal, but I also love learning about the evolutionary history of sharks and their relatives.
• My hometown is Cortland, which is in northeast Ohio, but I’ve lived in Columbus for 2 years and consider it my home.
• The Roald Dahl quote is one of my favorites, and I believe it will be relevant to this exploration. Who knows what kind of magic you might find in nature?

I want to learn more, through this course, about how plants play a role in and around freshwater ecosystems. I also would love to learn about many different types of flowers, but that’s more of a separate personal interest.

Hopefully, this “diary” will be helpful in my journey through Ohio’s plant life!

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“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it”
-Roald Dahl