Inside The New York Botanical Garden
plants
Posted in Around the Garden on March 4 2011, by Plant Talk
Ed. Note: Much as when the Garden photographer tells you something is special, when one of the Garden’s serious plant guys shoots you an email, you sit up and listen. This happened recently when I got an email from Jon Peter, Plants Records Manager about a little purple flower.
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The Botanical Garden’s living collections is among the greatest in the world and contains more than 1 million plants. Jon Peter, Plant Records Manager, periodically shines the spotlight on a particular species that can be found within our 250 acres.
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This pretty flower is of Centratherum punctatum. The name Centratherum comes from the Greek kentron meaning spur and anthos meaning flower; referring to the flower having a spur-like base. The specific epithet punctatum means spotted. It goes by many common names including larkdaisy, Brazilian button flower, pineapple thistle, porcupine flower, Brazilian bachelor’s button and Manaos beauty.
More below.
Posted in Photography on February 11 2011, by Plant Talk
Bamboo, that is, in the Conservatory where it’s easy to forget about winter. At least for a little while!
(photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Photography on February 4 2011, by Plant Talk
More scenes from the ice storm.
All photos by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on December 29 2010, by Plant Talk
A little late on the eye candy this morning. Apologies. Now, to the point: We were reading about ‘Abstract Expressionism New York‘ on the way into the Garden this morning, and thought this beautiful yucca somehow captured a bit of the spirit of Rothko, de Koonig, and Callahan. What do you think?
Yucca recurvifolia ‘Variegata’ (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Exhibitions, Programs and Events, Science on January 21 2009, by Plant Talk
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Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media. |
When I talk about The New York Botanical Garden, one phrase I tend to repeat over and over is: “No matter what the weather is like outside, there is always something to see and do here, both indoors and out.” In addition to the beauty of the Garden’s grounds and living collections in every season, there are also great indoor attractions. One of my absolute favorites is located on the fourth floor of the Library building—the permanent exhibition Plants and Fungi: Ten Current Research Stories.
The exhibition, housed in the grand Britton Science Rotunda and Gallery, allows visitors to explore the important research being conducted by Botanical Garden scientists here in the Bronx and around the world. Massive mural images of the Garden’s founders, Nathaniel Lord Britton and Elizabeth Knight Britton, overlook a map showing the corners of the world where our scientists have traveled for field research to solve some the mysteries of nature and to better understand the role of plants and fungi in our lives, part of the Garden’s overall mission as an advocate for the plant kingdom.
The rotunda features multiple displays illustrating the “William C. Steere Tradition,” with information on mosses, lichen, and three panels on mushrooms and berries. It educates the public on the legacy and influence of the man for whom the adjacent William and Lynda Steere Herbarium is named and where over 7 million plant and fungi specimens are archived. Computer terminals in the Gallery allow visitors to access the online specimen catalog from the C.V. Starr Virtual Herbarium.
Other computer stations in the exhibition provide audio-video presentations explaining Garden scientists’ research on rice, cycads, brazil nuts, squashes, ferns, and vanilla orchids. Visitors young and old can see how modern tools such as DNA fingerprinting as well as classic techniques of plant exploration are used, and how scientists are studying vital topics like genetic diversity in rice and a nerve toxin in cycads that may provide insight into neurological diseases.
You can meet some of the scientists in person and hear them discuss their research as part of the 2009 Gallery Talks series Around the World with Garden Scientists in the Britton Science Rotunda and Gallery. Robbin Moran, Ph.D., kicks off the series this Saturday, January 24, at 1 p.m. with his presentation “The Fascinating World of Ferns” and provides a behind-the-scenes tour of the Herbarium.
