Hi all, my name is Nivedita Menon, and I am a current Wildlife Biology student at UAF. I am currently taking this class from California, so I am excited to share some of the native flora I grew up with you all. As my major may imply, I am more interested in fauna than flora, but I do have a healthy appreciation for all living things. I am not a hunter or forager, but I have some experience with gardening, and I enjoy spending time in nature and taking in all of the unique species that exist around me. Honestly, my interest in plants is more through association, since my sister is currently in the process of getting a PhD in genetics, with a focus on plant genetics. Seeing her interest in plants has made me more curious about them, and I am looking forward to telling her about the things I will be learning in this class.
My favorite plant is the coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). It is native to the area of California that I grew up in, and I spent a lot of my childhood climbing these trees, much to the terror of my poor mom, considering that they are the tallest living trees in the world. I think they are super cool trees, and I am really grateful that I get to live in a place with them. This is a photo of the three coastal redwoods that are planted in our front yard.
Welcome Nivedita,
Glad you are able to take this class from California. So many wonderful plants there, some will be similar to the ones in Alaska, but many will be different genera, but also some familiar families. Love coastal redwood, did you know that junipers are in the same family as coastal redwood? Yep, they are both in the Cupressaceae, or cypress family. Some plants in this family that have woody cones like coastal redwood, or the true cypresses, but the junipers have fleshy cones. These are used in cooking and to make gin.