Wild oats, sown in my pants
A few months ago my advisor told me I should measure the leaf angle distribution of my species, since I make the statement that it does not have an erectophile orientation in the discussion section of the paper I'm working on. I wasn't super thrilled with the prospect. At the time, all of it was still in the rosette stage. I was really hoping to submit my paper long before it had a chance to bolt. (Actually, I've really been hoping to submit this paper since September, but that's another story. Maybe I'll go into the details once I finally do submit...)
As it turns out, this paper has been delayed by other things, so last week I figured I might as well go around Davis and the surrounding wilderness measuring leaf angles. I told my advisor about these plans on Tuesday. She was very happy, but proceeded to give me a long cautionary talk, the gist of which was that measuring leaf angles isn't really humanly possible (leaves tend to have complicated shapes, so it can be tricky to determine what their orientation is; it's frequently breezy, and it's impossible to measure the orientation of a leaf that won't hold still; etc.) and that I shouldn't get frustrated. What?!?!! Why was it so important to her that I collect this data if she knows it's impossible?
Anyway.
So I gamely trekked out after my office hours on Wednesday, compass and clinometer in hand. Measuring the angles wasn't too bad. I tried to be as objective as possible when selecting leaves and determining the dominant plane to measure the angle of. It was pretty calm too, although the wind picked up when I was 3/4 of the way done, forcing me to call it a day. But, oh my gosh, Avena turned me into its own personal pin cushion.
I say Avena, partly because it was one of the more conspicuous grasses around, partly because it's one of the only grasses I can identify, and partly because it gives me license to discuss the sowing of wild oats, but there was actually quite a diversity of grass seeds poking me through and through. My shoes were actually much worse on Wednesday than in the photo. And there were just as many seeds in my pants! It was so unpleasant! But there was nothing I could do about it since I was sampling a fairly well-trafficked area. If I had been in the middle of nowhere, I would have totally dropped pants to pick out the grass seeds, but I didn't really want to put on a show like that for all the passing motorists. So there was nothing I could do but suffer for 3 hours. Maybe it's a good thing that the breeze sent me home early.
I was unbelievably itchy by the time I got home. Yuck. And I spent the next three hours in a complete histamine meltdown. I felt bad for not working in the middle of the afternoon, but I was really not functional, thanks to all the grass seeds and the havoc they wreaked on me.
That night after ballet I sucked it up and got some Claritin. It's so frustrating that Claritin-D is now a controlled substance since people can make crystal meth out of it. I had to wait in line at the pharmacy to get it, only to be told that they were out of stock. Sensing that I was displeased, the pharmacy lackey tried to justify demand exceeding supply by stating that "it's allergy season". I informed him that I was well aware of the fact and stalked off. I was going to make do, but my eyes started to bother me badly again within minutes, so I decided to give the other Long's a chance (there are two on my way home from ballet). Fortunately they were able to satisfy my pseudoephedrine/loratadine needs.
I went out again this afternoon to record the remaining 80 leaf angles. Having Claritin in the bloodstream makes all the difference, although I still got molested by grasses. I saved my best site for last (around the Starbucks), and I treated myself with an iced coffee when I finished. As I was stirring the soymilk into my coffee, a woman pointed out my shoes to her son. I guess they don't see porcupined feet too often...
In case you were wondering, Lepidium latifolium has a plagiophile canopy, and my advisor is very happy with my leaf angle data. :)
As it turns out, this paper has been delayed by other things, so last week I figured I might as well go around Davis and the surrounding wilderness measuring leaf angles. I told my advisor about these plans on Tuesday. She was very happy, but proceeded to give me a long cautionary talk, the gist of which was that measuring leaf angles isn't really humanly possible (leaves tend to have complicated shapes, so it can be tricky to determine what their orientation is; it's frequently breezy, and it's impossible to measure the orientation of a leaf that won't hold still; etc.) and that I shouldn't get frustrated. What?!?!! Why was it so important to her that I collect this data if she knows it's impossible?
Anyway.
So I gamely trekked out after my office hours on Wednesday, compass and clinometer in hand. Measuring the angles wasn't too bad. I tried to be as objective as possible when selecting leaves and determining the dominant plane to measure the angle of. It was pretty calm too, although the wind picked up when I was 3/4 of the way done, forcing me to call it a day. But, oh my gosh, Avena turned me into its own personal pin cushion.
I say Avena, partly because it was one of the more conspicuous grasses around, partly because it's one of the only grasses I can identify, and partly because it gives me license to discuss the sowing of wild oats, but there was actually quite a diversity of grass seeds poking me through and through. My shoes were actually much worse on Wednesday than in the photo. And there were just as many seeds in my pants! It was so unpleasant! But there was nothing I could do about it since I was sampling a fairly well-trafficked area. If I had been in the middle of nowhere, I would have totally dropped pants to pick out the grass seeds, but I didn't really want to put on a show like that for all the passing motorists. So there was nothing I could do but suffer for 3 hours. Maybe it's a good thing that the breeze sent me home early.I was unbelievably itchy by the time I got home. Yuck. And I spent the next three hours in a complete histamine meltdown. I felt bad for not working in the middle of the afternoon, but I was really not functional, thanks to all the grass seeds and the havoc they wreaked on me.
That night after ballet I sucked it up and got some Claritin. It's so frustrating that Claritin-D is now a controlled substance since people can make crystal meth out of it. I had to wait in line at the pharmacy to get it, only to be told that they were out of stock. Sensing that I was displeased, the pharmacy lackey tried to justify demand exceeding supply by stating that "it's allergy season". I informed him that I was well aware of the fact and stalked off. I was going to make do, but my eyes started to bother me badly again within minutes, so I decided to give the other Long's a chance (there are two on my way home from ballet). Fortunately they were able to satisfy my pseudoephedrine/loratadine needs.
I went out again this afternoon to record the remaining 80 leaf angles. Having Claritin in the bloodstream makes all the difference, although I still got molested by grasses. I saved my best site for last (around the Starbucks), and I treated myself with an iced coffee when I finished. As I was stirring the soymilk into my coffee, a woman pointed out my shoes to her son. I guess they don't see porcupined feet too often...
In case you were wondering, Lepidium latifolium has a plagiophile canopy, and my advisor is very happy with my leaf angle data. :)
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posted by Meg at
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