A fig tree stands proud on the Reitz North Lawn, and now students will know what it is.
The fig tree is one of six plants on campus that Gators Reaching Out With Botany identified with laminated signs this month. The group labeled them with fun facts to draw students’ attention to the diversity of plants on campus. This term, they’re trying to keep the signs from disappearing. In Spring, the signs vanished within a few days of being posted.
Zach Guignardi, last year’s GROW Botany president, said the idea to label plants around campus last Spring came from wanting to educate students about them. But the signs in some of the more visited areas of campus, like bus stops, started disappearing, the 22-year-old said.
"Hopefully the signs stay a little bit longer this year," the Colorado State University botany master’s student said.
The group labeled an agave plant outside Hume Hall, a silky oak near the McCarty bus stop, an oleander near the chemistry lab building, a cycad near Pugh Hall and a fig tree and Spanish Moss on the Reitz North Lawn.
Abigail Hummel, the current GROW Botany president, said the group will be adding about a dozen more signs in Spring.
"We wanted to do chunks at a time," the UF biology senior said.
The signs are meant to bring attention to the plants because people tend to care about animals more than plants, Hummel, 21, said.
"It’s worth noticing, and it’s worth caring about," she said.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostroff
Cyads, which have been around since the dinosaurs, are labeled across from Pugh Hall. GROW Botany has labeled six plants around campus Nov. 10.
