Blunt, clipped way of speaking

MU BOTANICAL GARDENS

PHOTO BY EVAN HOLDEN

Yellow flowers bask under a clear sky on Wednesday, Sept. 1 in front of Jesse Hall in Columbia. Mizzou Botanic Garden highlights campus biodiversity

The garden stretches across MU’s entire campus and has an impressive ecological history.

BY GRACE BURWELL

Reporter

Spanning 735 acres, the Mizzou Botanic Garden boasts an incredible array of florals, ranging from septuagenarian pin oaks lining Francis Quadrangle to leafy elephant ears and verdant flowers outside Jesse Hall.

While some universities have designated garden spaces, MU’s entire campus is classified as a botanic garden. Since its founding in 1999, MUBG has planted over 6,000 trees, and countless staff and students have been changed by its ecological impact.

Pete Millier, director of MUBG, has worked at MU since 2005. Millier is passionate about his work and strives to ensure that students interested in conservation have the opportunity to get involved with the garden.

“It’s great to see a young person really catch the plant fever,” Millier said.

Millier is inspired in part by former MU Chancellor Barbara Uehling Charlton’s mission to unify and beautify campus. Uehling Charlton, who campaigned for a campus botanical garden in the 1980s, was the first woman to lead a land-grant university in the U.S., as well as the only permanent female chancellor of MU.

“She was really a trailblazing person,” Millier said.

Since the 1980s, there have been many changes to the campus environment. Today, Millier and members of MUBG are working on the Legacy Oaks of the Francis Quadrangle project to replace the 70-to 90-year-old pin oaks on the Quad with younger, healthier trees. Currently, new oak species are growing on MU’s South Farm until the saplings are mature enough to replace the older trees.

Walking across campus, it is not rare to see a plaque adorning a plant bed. The plaques, which Millier describes as “passive education,” allow students the opportunity to learn more about native Missouri plants when walking to and from classes.

Due to an increasing virtual demand, MUBG is moving toward an online format of environmental education, including an app students can use to identify plants on campus.

“More and more people want something that they can access via their smartphone, because they don’t want to see a sign out there,” Millier said.

In addition to virtual initiatives, MUBG plans to increase the amount of native plants on campus by working with organizations like the Missouri Prairie Foundation.

“We’re trying to put a bigger emphasis on native plants to grow out there on the campus because they’re well adapted to our soils and our climate,” Millier said.

Not only would planting more native species benefit MU’s ecosystem, it would also diversify the campus environment.

Junior Danielle Gafford, who is studying biological sciences, works on prairie ecology-related projects through a research lab on campus.

“I think it would be cool if Mizzou had a small prairie restoration or integrated native prairie species into campus gardens,” Gafford said. “They are important species that are built around established systems.”

Gafford also participates in student organizations like Climate Leaders at Mizzou and Sustain Mizzou. Previously, MUBG has collaborated with Sustain Mizzou on environmental efforts including beekeeping, composting and cleaning the MKT Nature and Fitness Trail.

“It’s a really good way to meet other people from other majors who are interested in the same things, and it’s nice to feel like you’re not the only one who cares about sustainability,” Gafford said.

Through collaboration with local organizations and student groups, MUBG has made headway on projects to keep the campus environment clean and healthy. However, many may be unaware that they are living on a campus with such an established ecosystem.

Gafford thinks more students would be interested in the garden

PHOTO BY EVAN HOLDEN

A botanical garden marker identifies a Hoptree on Monday, Aug. 30 at Peace Park in Columbia. There are a variety of markers around MU to label plants.

if they learned more about plants. Because of landscape services and MUBG’s hard work and dedication to environmental awareness, students have an entire garden in their backyard to explore.

Edited by Elise Mulligan, emulligan@themaneater.com

New club brings Spanish to the stage

From SPANISH THEATER on 8

histories beyond our own histories and beyond United States history. [It’s important] to be well-rounded people in general, so I really appreciated that there was so much history involved in the play itself,” Lynch said after reading the script.

Since the club’s creation, members have met for rehearsal in the Arts and Science Building on a weekly basis. As a new club, the creators are still trying to critique the process for producing their first play. Members of the Department of Theatre are also offering their expertise, like assistant professor Marc Vital, who agreed to help with costumes.

“We’re going to try to make connections with the theater department... so we can have that guidance towards a successful project,” Muñoz-Muela said.

As creators of the play, Muñoz-Muela and Herbias Ruiz hope the club and audience will enjoy the experience.

“What I want personally is … to involve other students, like undergraduates,” Herbias Ruiz said. “That would be excellent for our department in order to create a feeling of Spanish as a space for artistic experiences.”

The Spanish Theatre Club expects to put on at least one performance for a live audience per semester. This semester, the club plans to perform their first play Dec. 2 in Studio 4 in McKee Gymnasium, and the creators can’t wait to see the growth of what they’ve established.

Anyone interested in joining the Spanish Theatre Club can contact Muñoz-Muela at jmmpc@missouri.edu or Herbias Ruiz at edhrcv@missouri.edu.