Emily Humphreys receives education grant!

This March, first-year Tribble Lab graduate student Emily Humphreys received an education grant from the Washington Native Plant Society! This award will allow her to lead a project providing students in introductory biology at the University of Washington hands-on experience working with native plant specimens. Much of what is known about plants today comes from dried and pressed botanical specimens such as those housed at the Burke Museum Herbarium at the University of Washington. Still, many students are unfamiliar with herbaria or the vital role of biological collections in science. To address this gap, Emily will coordinate a project to build an herbarium teaching collection of the Washington native plant Erythronium montanum (Avalanche Lily).

A white Erythronium montanum flower is in focus in the foreground. Behind it is a field of Erythronium montanum. A snow-capped mountain is in the distance. — *Erythronium montanum*. Photo by Elli Theobald.

Three dried Erythronium montanum are shown mounted on a piece of paper. A label in the bottom right corner has information about the specimen and rulers are provided for scale along the top. — An *Erythronium montanum* specimen from the Burke Museum Herbarium at the University of Washington.

This teaching collection will be used in the first course in the University of Washington’s introductory biology series which serves ~2,500 learners a year. This teaching collection has the potential to reach tens of thousands of students across its lifetime, supporting learning and introducing students to their local flora!