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Flower Power: Hamilton’s Doctor and the Healing Power of Nature

- January 24, 2019 in alexander hamilton, botanic gardens, botanical gardens, botany, Science & Medicine

Rebecca Rego Barry on David Hosack, the doctor who attended Alexander Hamilton to his duel (and death), and creator of one of the first botanical gardens in the United States, home to thousands of species which he used for his pioneering medical research.

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The Model Book of Calligraphy (1561–1596)

- November 7, 2017 in botanical illustrations, botany, calligraphy, flowers, fruits, Georg Bocskay, insects, Joris Hoefnagel, writing

Pages from a remarkable book, the result of a collaboration across many decades between a master scribe, the Croatian-born Georg Bocskay, and Flemish artist Joris Hoefnagel.

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The Model Book of Calligraphy (1561–1596)

- November 7, 2017 in botanical illustrations, botany, calligraphy, flowers, fruits, Georg Bocskay, insects, Joris Hoefnagel, writing

Pages from a remarkable book, the result of a collaboration across many decades between a master scribe, the Croatian-born Georg Bocskay, and Flemish artist Joris Hoefnagel.

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Illustrations from a Descriptive Iconography of Cacti (1841)

- September 20, 2016 in botany, Cactaceae, cacti, cactus, cactuses, plants

Illustrations of cacti featured in a 19th-century work by French botanist Charles Lemaire.

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Illustrations from a Descriptive Iconography of Cacti (1841)

- September 20, 2016 in botany, Cactaceae, cacti, cactus, cactuses, plants

Illustrations of cacti featured in a 19th-century work by French botanist Charles Lemaire.

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Illustrations from a Descriptive Iconography of Cacti (1841)

- September 20, 2016 in botany, Cactaceae, cacti, cactus, cactuses, plants

Illustrations of cacti featured in a 19th-century work by French botanist Charles Lemaire.

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Visions of Algae in Eighteenth-Century Botany

- September 7, 2016 in algae, botany, Conferva fontinalis, Erasmus Darwin, frankenstein, Joseph Priestley, mary shelley, photosynthesis, Science & Medicine, temple of nature

Although not normally considered the most glamorous of Mother Nature's offerings, algae has found itself at the heart of many a key moment in the last few hundred years of botanical science. Ryan Feigenbaum traces the surprising history of one particular species — Conferva fontinalis — from the vials of Joseph Priestley's laboratory to its possible role as inspiration for Shelley's Frankenstein.

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The American Woods

- February 23, 2016 in american woods, botany, cross-sections of wood, forests, Romeyn B. Hough, wood, wood specimens, woods

a selection of pages from Romeyn Beck Hough's epic fourteen volume work The American Woods, a collection of more than 1000 paper-thin wood samples representing more than 350 varieties of North American tree

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The American Woods

- February 23, 2016 in american woods, botany, cross-sections of wood, forests, Romeyn B. Hough, wood, wood specimens, woods

a selection of pages from Romeyn Beck Hough's epic fourteen volume work The American Woods, a collection of more than 1000 paper-thin wood samples representing more than 350 varieties of North American tree

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Richard Spruce and the Trials of Victorian Bryology

- October 14, 2015 in alfred wallace, botany, history of science, liverwort, moss, richard spruce, Science & Medicine, victorian

Obsessed with the smallest and seemingly least exciting of plants — mosses and liverworts — the 19th-century botanist Richard Spruce never achieved the fame of his more popularist contemporaries. Elaine Ayers explores the work of this unsung hero of Victorian plant science and how his complexities echoed the very subject of his study.

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