Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't

How Do Chollas Bang

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Michelle Cloud-Hughes is a Cactus researcher, botanist and Desert Rat who specializes in one of my favorite cactus genera - Cylindropuntia: the genus ...

Plant Anatomy with Jim Mauseth

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jim Mauseth is a wizard with a microscope and a retired professor of plant anatomy at UT Austin, where he taught for 30+ years. Jim is an expert in Pl...

Going to Jail for Botany

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Peter Breslin is a Botanist out of Tucson Arizona specializing in Cacti, and recently did time in Brewster County Jail for "trespassing" to photog...

A Conversation About Peyote with Leo Mercado

26 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A discussion about Peyote conservation being done by Morningstar Conservancy in Tucson, Arizona and the ethnobotany of the Peyote Meeting, as well as ...

Dallas Plant Rescue & West Texas Dunes

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we rant about :Rescuing and digging thin-soiled limestone prairie plants from a soon-to-be-destroyed site in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area...

Nuevo León & Tamaulipas Cactus Blitz

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Spath (owner of Hidden Agave nursery @hiddenagave) and Kevin Krucher (@crazy4cactus) talk about a recent trip through the states of Nuevo León...

Poison Ivy Doesn't Wanna Hurt You

15 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This entire podcast is about the Poison Ivy & Mango Family, Anacardiaceae. Susan Pell , Executive Director of the U.S. Botanic Garden & John M...

The Conspiracy to Drain The Great Salt Lake

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk with Zach Frankl from www Utahrivers.org about the (intentional ) crisis afflicting the Great Salt Lake and why one of the lar...

A Conversation with Doug Tallamy

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Doug Tallamy is an entomologist, professor, and the author of a number of books, including "Bringing Nature Home" & "The Nature of Oaks". He has b...

Make Your Own Soil & KILL YOUR LAWN

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Tidd runs Bona Terra Nursery, a native plant nursery in the DC area that grows native plants and also does native landscape installations for p...

DC Botany, Ghost Plant Seeds, Invasion Bio, etc

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we rant about DC / Baltimore area botany, filming kill your lawn season 2, the glory of Texas leaf cutter ants, the seeds of ghost pla...

Kill Your Lawn Recap

22 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Very little botany-related content in this session with Al Scorch during an interim during the shooting of Kill Your Lawn Season 2 in College Park, Ma...

Native Bee Ecology with Sam Droege

18 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Droege is a scientist who studies bees and bee behavior based out of Maryland. In this episode we talk bee ecology, how to attract them to your ya...

KILL YOUR LAWN... & MAKE IT THE LAW.

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is an interview with Jeff & Janet Crouch, who sued their Maryland HOA in 2019 and ended up changing state law. Legislation that was e...

Ethnobotany & Plants You've Never Heard of w/ Anthony Basil Rodriguez

09 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Anthony Basil Rodriguez is an ethnobotanist from the Bronx, New York that has traveled the world studying wild bananas. In this episode we talked abou...

Butterflies and Border Walls

07 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Marianna Wright is the director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, which provides critical habitat for wildlife in the Rio Grande Val...

Cornell Herbarium, Brooklyn Cactus, VA Buckwheat

29 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This episode consists of a 90 minute rant about the wonders of Cornell University Herbarium (1 million specimens you schmuck), how a cactus came to gr...

Floral Scents & Pollination Systems w/ Dr. Rob Rugoso, Cornell University

27 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode with Dr. Rob Rugoso from Cornell University we discuss the chemistry of floral scents, how scent evolves (ie Clarkia breweri), night p...

Prairie Rants & the Herbaceous Perennial Habit

16 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A rant about how prairie soils get built, what exactly a "herbaceous perennial" is and why this habit is so relevant and important to remember when ta...

Setting Fire to Suburbia w/ Gerould Wilhelm

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Gerould Wilhelm is one of the two authors of Flora of the Chicago Region - A Floristic & Ecological Synthesis. In this episode we talk about a num...

Paleobotany with Fabiany Herrera

06 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Fabiany Herrera is a paleobotanist specializing on a diverse array of time periods and paleofloras, including the Mazon Creek Flora from the Carbonife...

CHICAGO CONFLICT & GLACIAL TILL SUMMER BASH

04 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A one hour rant about Glacial Till, Kankakee Mallow, Sand Prairies, Stiff Designs for Native Plant Landscapes, Emulating the "Beautiful Chaos" of the ...

How Ancient Glaciers Affect Peyote - a Conversation with Keeper Trout from Cactus Conservation Institute

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Keeper Trout is one of the founding members of Cactus Conservation Institute and a research scientist who - along with Dr. Martin Terry - has studied ...

Philippines Botany, East Texas Yucca Pollination, etc w/Adam Black

19 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk about the botany of the Philippines (influenced by a remarkable tectonic setting), volcanic activity, ultramafic soil, "ant-pl...

Fighting with City Hall, Star Cactus Mortality, et

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Rants about Fighting with City Hall over Native Plant Gardens & Tree Planting, Creepy New Age "Healers", mortality in Star Cactus (Astrophytum ast...

New Age Massage Parlors, Philosophical Coping, etc

13 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Rants about New Age Massage Parlors, Philosophically coping with "the human tumor" & habitat destruction, acid abstinence & 40 year old virgin...

A Conversation About Cactus Poaching with Jared Margulies

11 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Listen to this podcast ad-free on the Patreon at : https://www.patreon.com/CrimePaysButBotanyDoesntJared Margulies is the author of the upcoming book ...

Catching up with Kyle Lybarger of The Native Habitat Project

22 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we catch up with Kyle Lybarger of the wildly popular Native Habitat Project and talk about seed-collecting, lawn-killing, burn regimes...

A Conversation About Tabernanthe iboga

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Intro ends at 8:00. Reminder all episodes can be listened to ad-free by subscribing to the Crime Pays Patreon at : https://www.patreon.com/CrimePaysBu...

Brazil Atlantic Forest & Cerrado Vegetation Rants

12 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

First 30 minutes occur on a winded, 900 meter elevation-gain hike. A more thorough, less distracted rant starts at 30:00.Rants about Brazilian Atlanti...

Geologic German Chocolate Summer Bash & Basalt Flows with Nick Zentner

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Intro ends at 6:30Nick Zentner is a professor of geology at Central Washington University and host of a in-the-field geology YouTube Channel. He has n...

Some Notable Remarks On New Zealand's Flora

21 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is basically a 90 minute rambling rant about New Zealand plants & plant ecology, where by a repeated fascination and fixation is expr...

A Conversation About New Zealand Fungi

19 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with my mycologist friend Alan Rockefeller about fungal diversity in New Zealand/Aotearoa, fungi with caps that don't open (which may b...

Heteroblasty Anonymous - A Conversation About New Zealand Plants

13 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we have a 3 person conversation about the Flora of New Zealand, touching on such notable ecological and evolutionary characteristics a...

The Future of Peyote Conservation in South Texas

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Intro ends at 15:03In this episode we interview Benny Villareal about his work with Peyote Conservation in South Texas and his history with the Native...

Chonkosaurus & Chicago River Botanical Survey

14 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Rants about Chonkosaurus, the Chicago River getting cleaned up, the bio-swales that UrbanRivers.org created along the river, Rooftop Graffiti Apprecia...

90 minutes of Aroids with Tom Croat

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk with Tom Croat of Missouri Botanical Garden, a world expert on Aroids and the family Araceae. Tom has been to over 130 countri...

Kill Your Lawn Release, Sweat Ceremony, Chicago Museum Scam, etc

26 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Rants about overpriced museums, crook county, kill your lawn release, Missouri Botanical Garden Aroid Dungeon, getting banned from places of prestige,...

Talking Florida Panhandle Plants in a Longleaf Pine Forest

18 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lillium Byrd is a Botanist with the Florida Native Plant Society. This conversation took place in a Longleaf Pine Forest while watching fireflies ligh...

A Conversation with Margaret Behan

05 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Margaret Behan is an Arapahoe/Cheyenne member of the Native American Church, as well as one of the "13 Indigenous Grandmothers". In this episode we ta...

Paintbrush & The Genus Castilleja w/ Mark Egger

31 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Intro rant is about 25 minutes long."Paintbrushes", aka the genus Castilleja, are seemingly everywhere in the Americas, especially in the more arid an...

Living Soil Crusts With Corey Nelson

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Intro is 11:00Anybody who's spent any time studying or even observing plants in desert or seasonally arid environments is familiar with soil crusts an...

Relict Oaks, Sky Islands, Austin Texas Botany & Texas Madrones

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we rant about pleistocene relict oaks growing on desert sky islands, paintbrush species in the desert, plant communities of the hill c...

F*CKING CANCELLED w/ Jay LeSoleil

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Intro is 15:00 long.Jay LeSoleil is an activist, advocate and one of the two voices behind the F*CKING CANCELLED PODCAST. In this episode of Crime Pay...

Gesneriads with Dr. John Clark

06 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Podcast starts after a 40 minute intro...Dr. John Clark studies the plant family Gesneriaceae (In the same Order as Salvias, Mints, and Penstemons... ...

What the @&#! is Going On With North American Railroads

24 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk with my friend Ron Kaminkow, founding member of Railroad Workers United (www.railroadworkersunited.org) about just what the he...

Ricardo Ramirez aka Lizardskinn

22 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ricardo Ramirez aka Lizardskinn is a naturalist and photographer who has explored many of the remote areas of Northern Mexico, documenting cactus and ...

Kill Your Lawn rehash

20 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

TRIGGER WARNING : This ENTIRE episode is about 40 minutes of inundation in the phenomenon that is the nasally, intensely-obnoxious Chicago accent.In t...

A Conversation with Printmaker & Artist Roger Peet

11 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Roger Peet is an artist, printmaker, organizer, & naturalist. IG = @toosphexyLink Page/store for ordering prints : https://toosphexy.carrd.co/?fbc...

Peyote Ceremony & Esenbeckia

06 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk about being in "the fitness center of da mind" as a goal of enlightenment, attending a peyote ceremony, being woo-ed to sleep ...

2 Hour Plant Biology/Ecology Crash Course w/ Scott Zona

22 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Crime Pays we talk with Dr Scott Zona, author of a seminal new book on beginner's Botany ("A Gardener's Guide to Botany") about pla...

South Florida Monologues

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The beautiful bark of Poison Wood, "What the sh*t is a Hardwood Hammock?", Swamp Walking, Epiphytism, KILL YOUR LAWN, Corraloid roots and why nitrogen...

South Florida Native Plants w/Lillium Byrd

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An hour talk with Lilium Byrd about Florida Native Plants, rants about the ecological wreckage of South Florida, Hardwood Hammocks, Pine Rocklands, Fl...

Pyracantha Death, Obscene Birders, Western Interior Seaway

03 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we hear a series of rants about the hideous living-concertina-wire that is Pyracantha, the Western Interior Seaway (RIP) and theamy fo...

Tasmania Rants

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we spend two hours ranting about the Flora of Tasmania and why it acts like a time capsule for the relictual flora of Antarctica, tree...

Talking Tasmania w/Matt Berger

17 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

To cut to the chase and skip the intro go to minute 45:00.In this episode Matt Berger and I talk about Tasmanian Botany and filming Tasmanian endemics...

Miguel de Salas & Tasmanian Botany

04 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk all things Tasmanian Botany, on an island notab for being home to Gondwanan relict plants that provide us a glimpse of what pa...

A Conversation About Mycology, Psilocybe Diversity , & Citizen Science with Alan Rockefeller

28 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk with the mycologist and notoriously kind human being Alan Rockefeller about mycology, Psilocybe diversity, getting people inte...

Cultivating Peyote as a Means of Ex-Situ Conservation : A Conversation with the "Peyote Lorax"

18 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk with a gentleman who cultivates Peyote for the Native American Church. We discuss his efforts to protect wild populations of t...

A 3 Hour Conversation with Hamilton Morris

15 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk with well-known chemist and journalist Hamilton Morris about a variety of topics, including the current status of Psychedelic ...

BLACK FORAGER

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we have a 2 hour conversation with Alexis Nicole, aka Black Forager about everything from how she got started learning to use wild pla...

Peyote Gardens & Killer Bees

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we discuss flowering West Texas Peyote populations, riding freight trains through Winslow Arizona, keying out species using a Flora, w...

West Texas October

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we rant about creepy lights in the sky and Elon Musk, the Conflict Algorithm (™), creating habitat in your ugly front yard, Sticky ...

Southern California Landscaping Nightmare, Cholla As a Weapon, Borderwall Botany, etc

19 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we rant about the horror of common Southern California horticultural atrocities, having cholla branches thrown at you, the burgeoning ...

New York City

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Intro sound from the Cactus Forests of Puebla. Covid Party. Rants against Reagan. Causing a scene at the American Museum of Natural History. Perpetual...

Bromeliads to Blow Your Mind

18 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Endemic to the Americas (save for one species), the Bromeliad Family occupies almost all the ecological niches & environments that a plant family can ...

Cactus Evolution, Carribean Cactus Forests, & Tree Prickly Pears

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Initial intro rant is 12 minutes and rambles on about the Prednisone worsening ADD, getting smacked in the face with Poison Ivy while filming magic mu...

Cactus Forests of Puebla, Cloud Forests of Oaxaca

07 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A two hour rant about the incredible Cactus Forests of Southern Mexico, the Cloud Forests of Oaxaca, Cool Customs Agents, Drying Herbarium Sheets witt...

Oaxaca Cloud Forests/The Entheome Project Part 2

06 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Genome Sequencing Magic Mushrooms, Democratizing Science, Oaxaca Cloud Forests

05 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, recorded in the cloud forests of Oaxaca, we discuss the entheome project, which centers around genome sequencing of entheogens as wel...

Aug 25th Rants about Mexico, Botany News, Rain "Lilies", Dosing the RNC, etc

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A Conversation with Kyle Lybarger from The Native Habitat Project

16 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Out of Huntsville, Alabama, Kyle Lybarger is an advocate for native plants, ecosystems and for getting people to see things that they might otherwise ...

Restoring the American Chestnut

12 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk about using transgenic technology to fight the invasive pathogenic fungus that has decimated the American Chestnut tree and ma...

Da Sticky Plant Episode Nice & Pleistocene Ground Sloth Turds

07 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode (after a 35 minute rambling rant about West Texas Archaeology, the joy of holding 31,000 year old ground sloth shit, obscure Chihuahua...

Fake Name at the ER, KILL YOUR LAWN, Installing Native Plant Gardens, etc

06 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we discuss the glory of lawn killing, using a fake name at the ER since our Healthcare system sucks, facilitating the use of an auger ...

The Long Lost Candelaria, Solar Farm Apocalypse, Peyote Country

15 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk about the long lost population of Euphorbia antisyphylitica, thornscrub getting destroyed for a solar farm, moth pollination a...

Desert Plants & West Texas Horticulture with Patti Manning

06 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After a thirty minute rant about how the epic desert crucifixion thorn (one of the 6 different plants with that annoying common name), Holacantha stew...

The Velcro Leaf Family, Fake Names at the ER, Christian Taliban, etc

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rambling intro ends at 47:00, Conversation about Velcro Leaf Family Loasaceae begins at 48:00.

Talking Peyote & Conservation in South Texas

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Intro ends and conversation starts at 43:00.My guest today is Joe Ben Walker from the indigenous peyote conservation initiative and we talk all things...

Talking Evolution, Cloud Forests & Nightshades

01 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A Conversation with Dr. Stacy Smith from University of Colorado Boulder about the genus Iochroma and Plant Evolution. A 24 minute intro followed by 90...

An Interview with Carlos ”Aztekium” Velazco

25 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk Northern Mexican Botany with the wonderful Carlos Velazco, author of numerous papers describing the floristic relationships of...

Namibia, Resurrection Plants, Welwitschia, Caucasians in South Africa

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A long rant about Namibian Botany, Dark Humor, Myrothamnus flabellifolius the resurrection plant, Welwitschia habitat etc.

Nuevo León Botany, Gypsum Endemics, Cactus Poaching

20 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One long rant about Nuevo Leon plant communities, gypsum endemics, cactus poaching, high elevation "sky islands", Mall Security Guards at US Customs, ...

A Conversation with Kerry Knudsen, Lichenologist

06 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk with Kerry Knudsen, a  blue-collar-construction-worker turned lichenologist. We spend a good first half of the podcast talkin...

Texas Sandsheet, Sand Endemics,Twitter Fights with Furries

05 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we discuss the rare and endangered Texas Almond, a sand endemic. We also discuss the trough urinal at Taqueria Jalisco by the Pilot St...

Undescribed Buckwheats, KILL YOUR LAWN, Limestone Erotica, Rod Blagojevich, etc

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk about the notorious Bristol Mountains Buckwheat which is still formally undescribed despite being known of for a decade and a ...

How Do Fungi Bang (and evolve)?

19 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Generic Recombination is the means through which mutations (and evolution/speciation /phenotypic variation) occur, leading to changes in an organism's...

Lichens Are Weirder Than Helll

02 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A ninety minute conversation just scratching the surface of the bizarre-ass phenomenon of lichens, with Matt Berger aka Sheriff Woody. This is a talk ...

Rants About Peyote Conservation, Cryptogamic Crusts, Perithecium

29 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we listen to a 50 minute rant about peyote conservation in South Texas, the importance of the hundredth Meridian and the humidity diff...

Legume Phylogeny Dungeon

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The family Fabaceae is one of the most ecologically successful and diverse plant families in the world, especially in arid and subtropical regions. In...

Mycoheterotrophy, Resurrection Plants, Orchid Biogeography

25 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk with Tom Givnish, a well-known research botanist at UW Madison about a diverse number of topics including plants that can comp...

Orchid Crash Course - Phylogeny, Taxonomy, Morphology & what the sh1t

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After a 40 minute opening rant, we explore the nuances of the Orchid Family - the most species-rich and diverse family of flowering plants, and we tou...

Elusive Milkweeds of South Texas

09 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we rant about Asclepias prostrata, the rare and elusive prostrate milkweed of South Texas Thornscrub, as well as obscure subfamilies o...

Psychedelic Therapy and Its Practical Applications for Society

04 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jahan Khamsehzadeh, Ph.D. is a psychedelic therapist who's been actively conducting legal, guided Psilocybin sessions in Jamaica for the past 4 years....

What the sh*t is mRNA & how‘d it get into my nanoparticles

27 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Intro music by etsywitch.In this episode we discuss the ever-annoying American culture war and then move on to the science behind mRNA vaccine technol...

A Conversation about the Wild Sh1t going on in South African ”Daisies”

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Note : Interview starts around minute 24:00Recording quality on first 9 minutes of interview is lousy but improves after there after so sit still and ...

A Conversation With The Naked Botanist

03 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we spend 150 minutes talking with David Gwynne-Evans covering some of the epic highlights of the Cape Floristic Region's Flora. Even i...

A Conversation Having Nothing To Do With Plants

27 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Brodie is a photographer, truck driver, artist, freight train rider, and diesel mechanic. In this episode we sit down with him to talk about mode...

South Africa Follow Up, Rantings, Etc.

08 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk about some of the plant families found in South Africa and the ecological success of the Mesembryanthemaceae, as well as what ...

2 hours of South Africa Ranting

26 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One long disjointed rant between three filthy botanists covering the past three weeks of botanic surveys/rectal exams in the Northern and Western Cape...