iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by 🌿M.T.Botany

Mike Thompson @passwordismiket.bsky.social · 13h

On the one hand, conservatives deny climate change exists and oppose policies to address it. On the other hand, liberals haven’t convinced conservatives that climate change exists and haven’t offered pain-free solutions. Hence, it’s complicated.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 14h

Fun plant fact on the front page of Wikipedia today. "Did you know that the species name of Viburnum awabuki is derived from a Japanese word for its propensity to blow bubbles when exposed to fire?" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viburnu...

en.wikipedia.org

Viburnum awabuki - Wikipedia

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Not feeling my best today so I am having a cup of tea.

A glass tea cup in a pewter holder holding red-brown tea in it sitting amid the leathery small green leaves.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I, a perfectly human individual, have gotten an unpleasant head cold. So I need pseudoephedrine. The real stuff. To unstuff my head and not because it is a useful chemical when battling psychic plant moths that attack plant demons.

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Reposted by 🌿M.T.Botany

Colton the fish squeezer🐟🪴📚🏕️🐝 @fishsqueezer.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Unaltered - I'm colorblind so the only way I ever alter photos is cropping or making them black and white, haha.

The full color photo of the aforementioned plant.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Have you noticed a gap in the information about plants on Wikipedia? Let me know! I love working on new or existing articles about plants.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Just made my first edit to Wikipedia since 29 August. "Back in the saddle again..." A small addition to a page I created and some fixes. This vacation has been my longest Wiki break since 2022.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

On my recovery day. I think I am going to go get myself a burrito to celebrate having survived travel and jet lag.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This is the worst hotel room I have ever been in. Fictional friend: "This is where you live, it is a house." Piles of stuff everywhere and has anyone dusted, like ever? "Still your house; you aren't on vacation anymore." Still, I approve of the loose leaf tea and glass tea cups.

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Reposted by 🌿M.T.Botany

🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It is amazing how tiring just sitting in a seat can be. And I am now in Canada. For the next two hours in the airport. I found the plants. Such as they are.

A group of fairly standard indoor tropical plants. Front and center there are ones with large variegated leaves. Taller and to the right are some with shiny, leathery leaves attached to thick stalks. Opposite near the base and becoming somewhat to completely alternating towards the apex.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I have packed. I have checked for the third time that my passport is where I expect it to be. I am carrying approximately 1 kg of Lebkuchen. Lite this candle! And as @tkingfisher.com says, all hail The Line.

Two bags, both black, because of course. One a large black backpack. The other a REI rolling duffle with a bandana tied to the strap, also black.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Last treat here in Vienna. Chestnut Eis.

An ice cream cone with one scoop of tan colored gellao/Eis held out on a street with out of focus tables and a scattering of tiny yellow leaflets, especially around the trunk of the tree growing from the pavement at right.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Decisions, decisions. Get another box to make the chocolates completely safe or put them in the top of the backpack?

Lage black backpack open wide with a box filled with tea, Lebkuchen, and a Stolen. Two small packages of chestnuts for snaking atop some clothing in the upper part.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

In a library looking for plants. Found some.

A book, wider than it is tall with black and white illustrations of daffodils from 1591 (!), two on the left and two on the right. "Icones Stripivm" by Matthias de L'Obel. All are displayed with the bulb and roots.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I was halfway tempted even though it was €80. But instead I think I will get a better backpack and figure out how to make a large fern patch or something.

Black gothic backpack with a green fern leaf embroidered upon it.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

If I were a master photographer, maybe I could impart how it feels to stand next to the south tower. It is like a mountain. A carved cliff. It is 136 meters tall.

The inset corner, angles of stone gray limestone rough with age though it was probably smooth when placed 500 years ago. Above the first ledge the stone rises with carved details like small pillars to arch shapes, to intricate finials atop decorative empty arches, with further and greater detail higher and high into brightly lit gothic stone against a night sky.

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Reposted by 🌿M.T.Botany

Wikipedia Picture of the Day @wiki-potd.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Vertumnus is a 1591 oil painting by the Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, depicting Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, as Vertumnus, the Roman god of changing seasons, gardens, fruit trees, and plant growth.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It obviously is not as *vital* as making sure that every single plant is lovingly described, but I do support the civics side of Wikipedia.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

So, I got to Stephansplatz to change to the U1 and there was some kind of delay. With a crowd backing up I exited from the U-Bahn into the plaza above to come upon this:

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Reposted by 🌿M.T.Botany

Woodland Trust Scotland @wtscotsocial.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

UK Tree of the Year voting is now open with two fantastic Scottish contenders. This year's competition celebrates nature's great survivors, with the theme ‘against the odds’. The Balloch Castle ash has survived lightning, ash dieback and an Oasis concert!🎸 🧵 1/2

Ancient gnarled ash with massive exposed roots and a wide leafy canopy dominating the foreground, standing on a sunlit green lawn with a stone castle and round tower visible in the background beneath a bright blue sky. Balloch Castle ash. Pic by Audrey Baird.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Wheeeeeeee! I am drink Austrian grape juice. It is called "Sturm". Less sugar in this than I might have expected. (Wait is there alcohol in dis?) Anyways, I'm about to wash my strawberries and head to the cemetery. This will probably go well.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I have now tried the vegetarian Döner. It was good, I would happily substitute it for chicken even though it is more expensive, at least on occasion. Though I slightly prefer chicken.

Pita stuffed with salad and saitan for a vegetarian Döner. Hummus and yogurt on mine and spicy.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Not sure if I'm primed to see it or lucky, but more mistletoe in Vienna. This time in a park near the historic arsenal. Many different species with it. Some kind of walnut, two maples, and a linden.

A good sized park tree with compound leaves and globs of darker stems emerging here and there in its crown. It is healthy, for now. Quite a few trees with it should anyone need to decorate for Christmas... That is a question. Is mistletoe at Christmas a thing in Austria like it is in England?

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I have only just begun to pack, but the roller bag is swallowing the black void that is my wardrobe, happily. I do, need to get a small box for Lebkuchen and chocolates, as I do not wish for them to be crushed or broken.

Black sweater on black sweater on black jacket wrapped around a bottle of black tea liquor. My color is black, black, black...

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I wear black jeans and black tees all the time. I almost never wear anything else. I have no strong objections to suits, but I am not invested enough to do the work or spend the money.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I think I knew of this species, Berberis oiwakensis, before... *Checks Wikipedia* Yep, I moved the article almost three years ago because Mahonia is mostly considered a synonym. First time I have seen it in real life though. Wonderful structure.

A narrow planting of Berberis oiwakensis, looking almost like a cross between holly and a tree-fern. One central stem has long compound leaves, one leaflet at the end with a narrow tip and a few points on the edges, and then as many as seven leaflet pairs. Atop each stem is a bud beginning to add to the stem and grow more leaves.

A bud atop a stem breaking open with many leaves, still small and soft looking compared to the thick almost plastic looking mature leaves below. The new leaves are pale gold-green with a blush of red.

The top of a stem with a bud still emerging at the top looking rather like a light tan acorn while the leaflets on the mature leaves look rather like plastic holly leaves, thick and dark green with widely spaced points. I do not want to fall into this bush.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Hey Vienna, I'm in the park murdering Ailanthus seedlings. Muhahahhahah.

Many Ailanthus altissima with their characteristic compound leaves with ~5 pointed leaflets laying on the brown leaf litter with their white taproots exposed. Whoever did this will have hands that smell like the ailanthus chemicals, nasty.

There are some round leaves, probably a violet, that have been spared by the serial killer.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I am a ridiculous person, and I accept this. Here is the whole grain and nut croissant I had this morning. Only slightly sweet.

A whole grain pastry, which is moderately silly. It also has a bite out of the end of one point because I have the self control of a kitten. It is a lovely golden-brown with thin flakes of almond and oats. The bag it is on reads, "Deine Vollwertbäckerei" with the next line larger in script "Gradwold".

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It is 10:35 here, and everyone should adopt 24 hour time. Why? Because then we get 13 o'clock. 😈 Seriously though. It sounds weird at first to say fourteen twenty, but it is better.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Glad that this is being kept track of and the context of this not having happened in the past 100 years is quite useful to know.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Will I turn down this street purely based on its name? Why is this a question fictional interlocutor? Do you even know me?

Photograph of a blue street/address sign on the side of a tan stucco building that reads "7., Lindengasse". Gasse is more or less alley, but from an American perspective these are not alleyways because they are not the half abandoned service accesses that people are not intended to walk down.

Hi alt text readers, I promise that my carnivorous plant spawn won't eat you alive.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Well shit. Just discovered the first thing I will miss out on this trip that I mildly wanted to do. The Funeral Museum is closed over the weekend and Monday and Tuesday. Dang.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Logs into iNaturalist Hurm... I'm intrigued.

Screenshot from iNaturalist

My Observations and three lines for menu at the top and the search function and the three dots for more settings

Observations tab is active with 706 as MtBotany's current number. The tabs next to is Species with 275 above it and Identifications and 188 above that.

Banner for event:

🐿️ 🌻 iNat Together:
September 18-18 🐸 🦋
Find your nature friends!
Over 280 events to join! Click to learn more.

Then three observations with tiny thumbnails of trees on a cloudy day. Each labeled European Mistletoe Stadion, 1020 Wien, Austria, 21 h

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I am listening to "The Leper of Saint Giles" by Ellis Peters. It is making me want to do plant research, because I would like to figure out which gromwell that grows on limestone is part of the plot.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Bleh. I went to bed early with a tiny bit of a scratchy throat. I don't feel completely terrible today, but I have put out the do not disturb on my hotel room door and gone back to sleep at 8:00 after sleeping for 9 hours.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

None of my pictures are particularly great, but while walking near the stadium along U1 I spotted mistletoe growing in several trees.

A clump of darker leaves on a tree branch silhouetted against a gray sky, there are other clumps nearer the main trunk. The tree's leaves are mostly brown, probably the heat over the summer rather than already turning for the fall. Not sure if the tree was an American or European linden.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

So yesterday I looked up and thought, "What is that?" I could have used a map, but instead I decided to just wander out and have a look. Some kind of really cool business? No! It is the main branch of the library. Alt text for more info.

ECHO written on the side of a wide light orange-red building and joined with it written upsidedown and backwards at the "O". There are trees along the street and a blue sky above.

Sign saying:

Büchereien Wien
Hauptbücherei

(Vienna libraries, main library. I learned that Bücherei is used for town libraries, but a university library is a Bibliothek.)

Haupteingang
Über die Rolltreppe

(Main entrance, up the escalator. I had not previously I did not know this word, but it was easy to learn from context.)

Looking out the window over the green roof at one end of the Burggasse-Stadthalle U-Bahn station and the city beyond down a broad avenue, Lerchenfelder Gürtel. It has many trees between the mostly four story apartment buildings of various eras and colors.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Back at U6 in Spittelau today. It is an interesting area. More information in the German version of the article, of course. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spittel...

en.wikipedia.org

Spittelau station - Wikipedia

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Okay, doing the old person thing and putting arthritis pain relief gel on my feet. I don't do this every night, but when I have walked something like 25,000 steps or nearly 18 km, the joints of my big toes in particular complain.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Soooooo... I am a plant person, someone who likes plants not a killer robot programmed to defend trees, but I am also just a bit of a transit nerd. And Vienna has an U-Bahn. A pretty good one. And U6 has a middle section on an old elevated railway...

Classic older apartment building whipping by beyond the green painted cast iron rails of the elevated railway that is surrounded by trees.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Fall is starting around the edges here in Vienna. In Wien beginnt der Herbst.

A honey locust with a few yellow leaves on a street.

Eine Gleditschie mit ein paar gelben Blättern an einer Straße.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Let's talk green roofs on sheds.

A bike lockup shed thingy, which has a few areas of green plants on its roof.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Physics! Obviously the metal is vibrating, I think at the critical angle the flow through the holes becomes turbulent at the same frequency as the metal plate.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Three NASA tees. I'm not sure what it means, but the classic worm NASA logo appears more often than I would have guessed.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

On the U-Bahn headed back to my hotel. I had a *walk* today. Only about 8.9 km, ~12,000 steps, but all of it in one go with only a few stops walking from Station Kaisermühlen – Vienna International Centre all the way to Stephansplatz in the center of the city.

A residential skyscraper near the Danube overlooking a tree filled plaza and photographed from the footbridge. Quite cloudy day.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

So after (mostly) successful clothes and dish washing I decided that I would come to the Danube Island (Donauinsel). It is not the grand historic center, but interesting. For one thing there is a U-Bahn station in the middle of the Danube. Not on the island, the middle. Mostly.

Photograph of the bridge that takes a freeway, two footpaths, and U1 over the river with the entrance to the U-Bahn in the middle between two piers. The U-Bahn is barely visible sandwiched under the road deck and behind the footpath.

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

With one whole hour until my clothes are even theoretically dry it might be time for the final round of alkoholfreie Bier vs original Bier! 🍻

Two bottles side by side. Edelweiss alkoholfrei and Hefetrüb, blue and green labels respectively

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🌿M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

And I learned stuff. Like the word for delicate clothes wash. Feinwäsche And the basement was mildly interesting. Very organized storage bays in this hotel/apartment building.

Door to the washroom and storage area secured by access card. Round solid metal knob and key as well.

Kellerabteile in a slightly hard to read font. Basement compartments

Orange washroom symbol and the opened door next to it with a washing machine and dryer stack and an ironing board. New, but still very basement and slightly unsettling.

The basement storage bay with vertical wood slats that contain all the stuff without preventing air flow and letting your neighbors judge your storage of stuff. So that some sort of rat midden won't be constructed by a neighbor.

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