Layla Dishman

Layla is an amazing botanist, whom I am very lucky to call a friend. Largely self taught, she has mastered the art and science of botanical taxonomy. I often find myself asking her for guidance on many botanical queries. Plus, she maintains a professional Flicker account, where she offers all of her research grade photographs for researchers and authors around the world to use. 

She is currently an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology undergraduate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Go Vols!), where we met. In her years here, she has taken a wide breadth of plant related courses: Invasion Biology, Field Botany, Plant Diversity and Evolution, and a special, accelerated, pilot course- Immersion in Natural History Collections Research. Additionally, she has severed many semesters as an intern in the university's herbarium. Layla approaches her courses with the same level of professionalism as she does with every aspect of her life. She clearly shows a strong desire to master all the material she is presented with in class and won't give up until her knowledge of it is perfect. 

When she isn't in the classroom, she loves spending time outdoors- whether that be hiking or gardening- and spending time with her family. She also works with local animal shelters to foster and help find forever homes for various cats; anytime they run across a cat who needs a little extra TLC, they call her. 

In sum, Layla is a botanical extraordinaire on top of being a wonderful person, and I am lucky to call her a friend and to be working on this project with her. To finish this page off, here are some of my favorite fern photos she has taken. Enjoy!