Plant Talk

A Dominican Tea for Cold Winter Evenings

Posted in How To, Plant Science

Plants, after all, are not always innocuous. Some, like food-grade castor oil from Ricinus communis, require extensive Read More

Flashes in the Twilight

Posted in History & People, Plant Science

One evening as twilight settled over the garden of Hammarby, an idyllic farm near Uppsala in Sweden, a botanically inclined young lady noticed flashes of ... Read More

In Search of Thomas Edison’s Botanical Treasures

Posted in Inside our Collections, Plant Science

The quiet corridors of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium here at The New York Botanical Garden are lined with steel cabinets where preserved plant ... Read More

Lendemer’s Lichens: Combing the Great Smoky Mountains

Posted in Plant Science

You’ll find them clinging to rock faces like flecks of gray paint, or carpeting a tree trunk with skeins of red whisps. Lichens come in ... Read More

The Cannon Ball Tree

Posted in Plant Science

I still stand in awe each time I see the cannon ball tree (Couroupita guianensis), a member of the Brazil nut family. In ... Read More

Darwin’s Star Orchid

Posted in Inside our Collections, Plant Science

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The Funkiest of Fungi

Posted in Plant Science

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