The host site transfer of this blog has been postponed until tomorrow. So in the mean time, let’s look at some beautiful images of plants to celebrate this glorious spring weekend! Seed Magazine has created another gorgeous slideshow of biological art, this time highlighting the release of a new book on botanical illustration at the Kew Gardens called “The Art of Plant Evolution”.
In this new book, not only is art gorgeous and the plants (as ever) fantastic, the works are organized according to currently accepted evolutionary order. Useful! Educational!
The book highlights modern examples of botanical art created after the advent of the camera. Though some may argue that instrument made natural history art obsolete, I beg to differ. Often art can highlight features that would be quite difficult to see in one photograph. Anyone who disagrees is directed to the Sibley Guide to Birds.
Any guesses what the work above is of? It’s something you use a lot . . . Think . . . don’t peek till you’ve really thought about it . . .
Vanilla planifolia is its name. Dairy flavoring is its game. When the long skinny fruit (packed with jillions of tiny seeds) turns brown and is properly cured and subjected to alcohol extraction, you end up with a dark brown liquor that little kids are always surprised to find tastes wretched. That’s why you’ve got to add the products of Saccharum sp. and Bos primigenius.
The plant is in the massive orchid family(Orchidaceae), one of the coolest on the planet. Its members generally live in trees and require particular symbiotic fungi to infect and feed their endosperm-less seeds before they can germinate, and they’re known for producing exquisite flowers pollinated by a variety of specialized insects. Orchids have gone as far as tricking insects into having sex with their flowers so they can . . . have sex. Oh, the irony.
