How do you think scientists get interested in plants in the first place?
I'm a recreational scuba diver, which means that my hobby is to to go underwater and try to see stuff that is neat. Of course I want to see the pretty colorful fishes and sea slugs! No diver spends thousands traveling to far flung destinations to peer at the dull and ugly. Right now I have no scientific purpose, but I bet there is an almost perfect correlation with people who like to scuba dive and go on to be marine researchers.
I'm a recreational scuba diver, which means that my hobby is to to go underwater and try to see stuff that is neat. Of course I want to see the pretty colorful fishes and sea slugs! No diver spends thousands traveling to far flung destinations to peer at the dull and ugly. Right now I have no scientific purpose, but I bet there is an almost perfect correlation with people who like to scuba dive and go on to be marine researchers.