📙 Part 2: Describe a plant that is important/grown in your country

You should say: what type of plant it is, where it grows or is usually seen, how it is used in your country and why it is famous or important.

This episode's vocabulary

Run-of-the-mill (adj.) - ordinary and not special or exciting in any way.

Crop (noun) - (the total amount collected of) a plant such as grain, fruit, or vegetable grown in large amounts.

Thistle (noun) - a wild plant with sharp points on the leaves and, typically, purple flowers.

Petal (noun) - any of the usually brightly coloured parts that together form most of a flower.

Jaggy (adj.) - rough, with many sharp points.

To manicure (verb) - to keep something such as a plant or a garden very tidy and regularly cut.

Emblem (noun) - a picture of an object that is used to represent a particular person, group, or idea.

Floral (adj.) - made of flowers, or decorated with pictures of flowers.

Well-versed (adj.) - knowing a lot about something.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, lots of plants are grown in my country, especially in the agricultural areas, but they're all pretty run-of-the-mill crops, to be honest. One that does stand out, though, isn't like these other ones. It's called the thistle. And it's one of the national symbols of our country. Specifically, I think it's called a milk thistle. And it's a flower or at least a flowering plant. It's got these purple petals and a long green stem covered in spines, which are a bit jaggy, and that must be to stop animals from eating them. I don't think it's unique to Scotland. But it does grow all over the place there. Especially in the wilder areas which aren't as manicured as the other, others. Since it's a flowering plant, I suppose the purple part must usually come out in the spring, but I've never really thought about that before until now, to be honest. As far as I'm aware, it's only used as a symbol of Scotland. So it appears on anything and everything you would expect from things like coins to the badges of some football clubs. I think it's also used on the emblem of one of our national political parties as well. This is all a bit ironic, really, since the plant is often seen as a weed, and people try to kill them, so they don't compete with the prettier flowers they might want to grow in the first place in their gardens. Apparently, though, about, what, 800 years ago an enemy soldier stood on one and it made him yell, which alerted our own army to where the opposition was, which means it must have had some better uses at some point, if you were a Scottish soldier living in medieval times, for example. Since then, it served as our national floral emblem. If I hadn't heard of this plant, I have no idea what else I could have spoken about since to be honest, I'm not that well versed on the other kinds of plants we have in our country. With that in mind, I suppose I best brush up on my plant knowledge.

M: And what about your friends? Do they like this plant?

R: I have no idea. We've never talked about it before.

Discussion

M: Right, dear listener, so Rory talked about a plant which is a kind of flower. And it's a Scottish national symbol. It's called a thistle.

R: Yes.

M: You see? So it's a very specific plant. And it's a symbol of Scotland, you see? So you can also talk about a symbol. I don't know, maybe in your country. Plants are grown in my country. So lots of plants are grown in my country, especially in agricultural areas. Areas for agriculture, where just potatoes are grown, vegetables are grown. But most of the plants are run-of-the-mill crops. Crops? Like usual vegetables. Potatoes, carrots.

R: Yeah. Any plant is grown for eating really. So I think the national or one of the national symbols of Ireland is the potato because it's grown there.

M: Ooh...

R: It's funny because it doesn't come from Ireland originally, it comes from South America. And then in England, national symbols include roses. And I'm pretty sure the same is true for France as well. Countries share different symbols. Different floral symbols as well. And different national foods. Because who controls these things is not settled.

M: Oh, no, in France, it's the iris.

R: Oh, okay. I think there are different regions of France that have different floral symbols as well. So yes, if you don't want to, you could talk about a flower from a specific region.

M: Yeah, you see, dear listener? So make sure you just, you choose something. And you can say like, run of the mill. Run of the mill? Like usual, ordinary, like ordinary vegetables, run-of-the-mill crops, crops grown on land, potatoes, carrots, and vegetables. One plant that stands out is a thistle. So something stands out, something is different from the others. So it's called a thistle. And it's one of the national symbols in my country.

R: But if you were from Japan, you could say, oh, it's a cherry blossom and it's one of the national symbols that by country.

M: Then you describe the plant. How does it look? It's a flower or it's a plant. It has purple petals. Petals? Like a flower has little thingies. Petals we call it. A long green stem. The stem is like this stick. Okay? Very specific.

R: It's, well, a stem is like a green, quite rigid thing that grows out of the ground to support where the flower will.

M: So it has a long green stem covered in spines.

R: Yes. They're like sharp things that stick out.

M: Oh, really?

R: Yeah. But you could describe any plant this way. It's got a long green stem. Stem is a very specific word for describing part of a plant and if it's the flower then it will have petals. These are the most colourful leaves that come out to attract insects.

M: Yeah, dear listener, if you look at the pictures of a thistle, it has these sharp needles kinda thingies. So it's kind of this flower is not really friendly. It has sharp prickles. There we go. Sharp prickles. Like roses have sharp what? What do roses have?

R: They have thorns.

M: Thorns, yeah. But a thistle has sharp prickles. This flower grows all over the place in Scotland.

R: Everywhere.

M: So it grows everywhere. It's very common, in the wilder areas. So in wild areas, in forests, it also grows. It's a flowering plant, which means it's a flower. It usually comes out in the spring. But Rory is not sure. So kind of like when does it bloom? When can you see it? Usually, it comes out in the spring. Or certain flowers come out in summer or come out in... Not winter, in autumn. Yeah, but some plants are evergreen. And you can say I've never thought about it before. Like I don't know.

R: How often are you asked to think about plants?

M: Yeah, but you should research this topic, dear listener. Take notes, learn the phrases and the information about your national plant. Okay? For IELTS purposes.

R: Or you could be like me and tell them you have no idea and take a guess.

M: No, but come on, if you have no idea, it will be difficult to talk about a plant.

R: Make lots of guesses. I did.

M: As far as I'm aware, it's a symbol in Scotland. So as far as I know, as far as I remember, as far as I am aware, it's only used as a symbol in Scotland.

R: I hope people don't eat it.

M: It could be toxic, like poisonous. This plant is on the emblem of one of our political parties, for example. It's on the emblem. So if it's a national plant or flower, it could be used on the emblems, on the coins, on, I don't know, flags. This plant is often seen as a weed. What is at weed?

R: A weed is a kind of plant that is ugly and grows fast, is very invasive and steals resources away from the flowers or the plants that people want to grow. So a thistle is seen as this by some people, not by all people. I don't mind.

M: And then Rory gives us some history behind the plant. You know?

R: Well, I think this is the history. Because I said, apparently, I don't know if this is a fact or not.

M: What is a floral emblem?

R: It's like a flower symbol of something. Is a very, very short description. So you see floral emblems in Scotland. And where else? In England as well, you see different roses on things.

M: And you can finish off with conditionals. It's a very good idea to use conditionals in speaking part two to show off your grammar. You show the examiner that you do know a variety of grammar structures. So here, we use the third conditional. If I hadn't heard of this plant, Rory did hear about this plant. So if I hadn't heard of this plant, I could have spoken about something else. Could have spoken. But I didn't. I did speak about it. And then you can say like, well, unfortunately, I don't know much about this plant. I should brush up on my knowledge. So brush up on something. What does it mean?

R: Oh, it means to revise or review information about a topic.

M: Yeah, I should brush up on my knowledge of English grammar, brush up on English history. So it's a phrasal verb and C1. So like an advanced phrasal verb, brush up on something, and improve your knowledge of something. Which you learnt before, but you forgot. So... I'm not sure I remember a lot of information about this plant. I think I should brush up on this information. I think I should brush up on my knowledge. Okay, Rory, anything else you want to say?

R: Well, while I was able to just go with the sparse information I had on plants in my country as Maria said, it would be a very good idea to do some in-depth research about this topic. Even if you don't remember everything, you'll still be able to remember some facts, if not all of them. And remember, like me, I didn't know a lot about this. And I think a lot of people wouldn't know a lot about this topic. So remember your words for guessing at information. I don't think it's unique to Scotland, I suppose, as far as I'm aware, apparently, on all of these things that helped to distance ourselves from our answers, because we could be wrong if we are guessing. I could be wrong about all of this.

M: Thank you very much for listening! And we'll get back to you in our next episode speaking part three about agriculture.

R: Ooh, nice! Let's go.

M: Bye!

R: Bye!

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