The Sceptical Botanist
@timentwisle.bsky.social
Author, botanist, broadcaster and other odd things; read all about it in 'Evergreen: The Botanical Life of a Plant Punk' (Thames & Hudson). My book of 50 essays, 'The Sceptical Botanist' (CSIRO Publishing), also out now! https://talkingplants.blogspot.com
A rare post on my Talking Plants blog, as I tidy up the page proofs for my next book (after 'Three Worlds Oak'). Presenting the shade-loving white lady: talkingplants.blogspot.com/.../the-shad.... PS: 'Three Worlds Oak' now out in London and making its way to Australia, through the Suez Canal...
A chat with the insightful @angelamoles.bsky.social about how plants are responding to climate change and whether we should worry about introduced plants? Oh, and whether young researchers get the financial support they need... www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
How plants are responding to climate change and should we worry about introduced plants? - ABC listen
Ecologist Angela Moles chats with Tim Entwisle about Australia’s support for young scientists and how it compares with other OECD countries. They discuss how plants are responding to a warming world, ...
abc.net.au
A few floral highlights from my recent tour to the high mountains of Yunnan, bordering the Himalaya. Pretty flowers, and oaks! talkingplants.blogspot.com/2026/06/yunn...
Yunnan, kingdom of flowers ruled by oaks
A blog about plants and gardens (gardening, botany, algae and fungi)
talkingplants.blogspot.com
Fun to see Quercus monimotricha last week. A holm oak relative growing at 3,500 m near Shangri-la, in northern Yunnan, China.
Algal bit a little sketchy, but some fine kayaking on display (with Alien Nosejob cap 😎). A prelude to me musing on botanic gardens (and of course a Nick Cave mention...) www.abc.net.au/gardening/ho...
My Garden Path | Professor Tim Entwisle - Gardening Australia
We meet botanist Professor Tim Entwisle, whose fascination with algae led him to a career in some of the most significant botanic gardens in the world.
abc.net.au
Sad news from St Louis. The death of a towering figure in science, botanic gardens and botany. And of a dear friend. RIP Peter Raven www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...
Peter Raven, botanist and advocate for biodiversity, has died, aged 89
Life on Earth is often described as a web, but for much of modern science it was catalogued as a ledger: names, specimens, distributions, relationships drawn in careful lines. Over the course of the 2...
google.com
More on this rather striking, and stimulating, desert flower from Morocco. #Cistanche talkingplants.blogspot.com/2026/04/stim...
Stimulating desert flower
A blog about plants and gardens (gardening, botany, algae and fungi)
talkingplants.blogspot.com
Just back from three weeks in Morocco, leading an ASA Cultural Tour (www.asatours.com.au/tours/landsc...). Great fun, especially the final night fling (rendered here by my son Jerome and presumably AI). Returning April next year...
A sweet little endemic lavender in Morocco, Lavandula maroccana. On a hill side near Ouirgane, on the northern side of the High Atlas Mountains, about 50 km south of Marrakesh
Advance notice of my new oak book, due out 1 September 2026. Is it the world's first memoir of a genus? You be the judge. Preorder now (links in my blog post) or find in your local book shop in the Australian sprinter/spring. talkingplants.blogspot.com/2026/02/thre...
Three World Oak: 'the first memoir dedicated to a plant genus'
A blog about plants and gardens (gardening, botany, algae and fungi)
talkingplants.blogspot.com
I'm sure I'm not the first to note that Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was delivered in a couple of minutes (acknowledging that it followed a speech that rivaled the current President's in length).
TAKING PLANTS WITH TIM ENTWISLE (LIVE!) A New Science Talk Series at Botanic Gardens of Sydney 10.00-11.30 am, 6 May First up, Dr Hervé Sauquet, who collaborated with @rbgkew.bsky.social to assemble the most comprehensive flowering plant ‘Tree of Life’ ever www.botanicgardens.org.au/whats-on/tal...
What happened to my oak book? Well, it's in production! talkingplants.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-...
The oak book?
A blog about plants and gardens (gardening, botany, algae and fungi)
talkingplants.blogspot.com
Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas (Bells) from the roadside of Tourist Road, Glenquarry Blandfordia nobilis (Christmas bells), Thysanotus tuberosus (common fringe-lily) and two orchids: Cryptostylis leptochila (small tongue-orchid) and Caleana major (flying duck orchid)
Will my mistakes ‘keep the professors busy for centuries’? A Christmas reflection talkingplants.blogspot.com/2025/12/will... Photo: The author correcting errors as an angry crowd looks on (aka Signing copies of his latest book in Armidale)
Returning also to the Wingecarribee River, catching up with pelicans as I paddle
A little Australian floral razzamatazz in the new 'Dryland Garden' at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan (near Sydney). Swainsona formosa, Sturt's Desert Pea, found naturally in Central Australia.
We love author events! 🥳 Tim Entwisle, author of The Sceptical Botanist, has been busy doing talks and signings since the book's August release – have you caught any of them? Get your copy from your local bookshop or online: www.publishing.csiro.au/book/8151/ @timentwisle.bsky.social
Wood-wide web unravels? My take on the phenomenon that is more hype than hyphae... talkingplants.blogspot.com/2025/10/wood...
Wood-wide web unravels [excerpt]
A blog about plants and gardens (gardening, botany, algae and fungi)
talkingplants.blogspot.com
If you are in Melbourne on Monday 13 October, the wonderful Friends of Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne are hosting my talk on a life in botanic gardens and the new book, 'The Sceptical Botanist'. Books available for sale and signing rbgfriendsmelbourne.tidyhq.com/public/sched...
📅 The Sceptical Botanist, separating fact from fiction - Talk at Mueller with Tim Entwisle - 13 Oct 2025
🗓️ 13 Oct 2025 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM 📍 Mueller Hall
rbgfriendsmelbourne.tidyhq.com
'The Sceptical Botanist: Separating Fact from Fiction' (CSIRO Publishing, 2025) is now, after some technical issues, available on Kindle! I can find it now on Amazon UK and hopefully it will appear very shortly on Amazon Australia (and Amazon Universe, if that exists)
The back paddock... Actually, over the fence from the lovely Moss Vale dogs-off-leash area, with Reg, our cocker spaniel, beside me looking longingly (at rabbits too)
Exciting for those not living in southern Australia, and perhaps for some who are. The flying duck orchid (Caleana major) seen in Willow Vale, near to my new home town. And in case you find all plants dull, I've included a local bird: a gang gang...
Tim Entwisle has been busy doing interviews and events for his new book The Sceptical Botanist... have you caught any of them? We love this happy snap from the book launch at Royal Botanic Garden Sydney last month. @timentwisle.bsky.social | #Botany
The Age/SMH, this morning (Saturday, 30 August)
If you happen to be in Bowral (Southern Highlands, New South Wales, Australia, Earth) on 5 September 2025, here is something you might do. I'll be there 🙂 www.thebookshopbowral.com.au/event-info/t...
As Morgan said in her repost, look past the tardigrade to the glistening green Hydrodictyon (water net), just one of many beautiful (under the microscope) freshwater algae: "@fwredalgae.bsky.social Lovely! The #algae is Hydrodictyon -common name water net 😀."
Wonder of Science@wonderofscience.bsky.social · last yr.A microscopic tardigrade going for a stroll through some algae. Credit: Sinclair Stammers
A vivid red form of this always stunning species, Fritillaria imperialis. Here in Iran, at the westerly end of its natural range from the Middle East to the Himalaya, thanks to the wonderful photography of Sajad Alipour
Sajad Alipour@sajadalipour98.bsky.social · last yr.Fritillaria imperialis Fars province, Iran April 2025 Elevation 2450m #Fritillaria #Liliaceae #botany #ecology
