Welcome to Getting Dirty. At least once a week, we publish articles exploring everything from simple explanations of plant and soil science; through design concepts such as composition and colour theory; to profiles of plants and construction materials.
If you’re new to plant and soil science, read this article first.
Let’s Get Dirty!
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Family values
This final article on plant classification looks into the idea of plant families, and why it is helpful to know which family a particular plant belongs to.
The cycle of life
An overview of the main stages of a plant's life cycle, from seed germination to senescence and death, together with a discussion of how some plants benefit from completing their lifecycle in a particular lifespan.
Counting seed leaves
An overview of the main differences between monocotyledonous ("monocots") and eudicotyledonous ("eudicots") plants; although defined by the number of seed leaves ("cotyledons"), this is not the most important difference.
What’s in a name?
An explanation of the Linnaean taxonomy for classifying organisms; an introduction to botanical Latin, and a discussion of the reasons for its use.
From moss to flowers
An overview of the four main groups of plants and some of the key differences between them.