The seedlings growing in the John Innes Centre’s ash dieback laboratory have been adorned with unexpected names. According to their tags, the shoots are called Suzie and Chrissie and Aretha, as well as Kate, Dolly and Nina.
It is an odd nomenclature for a world-leading crop research centre – though plant health expert Professor James Brown has an explanation: “These seedlings are part of Diva: our Diversity In Ash research project, so we decided to name them after real divas – and in particular the divas of my day: Suzie Quatro, Aretha Franklin, Kate Bush, Chrissie Hynde, Dolly Parton and others like them.”
