Category Archives: Botany

The Uses of Quercus suber

Posted on 08/01/2024 by carolinemmurray

I’ve been trying to remember when the first screw-top caps for wine bottles came in. First there were rigid plastic ‘corks’, and then aluminium screw-caps – sometimes even for wines which in our rather lowly circle might be described as … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, Natural history, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Plant of the Month, July 2023

Posted on 12/07/2023 by carolinemmurray

it is almost exactly a year since I last did a ‘Plant of the Month’ post, so I thought I had better get back into that particular delightful harness. In @CUBotanicGarden the other day, I was admiring the way in … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Natural history | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Art and Algology

Posted on 22/06/2023 by carolinemmurray

A bit more about how everything is in fact connected to everything else … I first came across Mary Philadelphia Merrifield (née Watkins: 1804–89) early in 2016, when I was trying to find out about Armenian bole, and regretted that … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Botany, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | 2 Comments

George Claridge Druce

Posted on 04/02/2023 by carolinemmurray

As far as I was concerned, until a few days ago, ‘Claridge Druce’ was a hardy geranium (indeed, I have heard it referred to as ‘Clarice Druce’, though not ‘Clarice Drudge’). Then I came across his name as the author … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Gardens, Italy, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Thomas Spratt, R.N.

Posted on 05/01/2023 by carolinemmurray

I discovered the other day that Thomas Able Brimage Spratt (1811–88) donated seven items of archaeological interest to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1853–4. I knew him as the author of a two-volume Travels and Researches in Crete (1865), which was … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Bibliography, Biography, Botany, Classics, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

William Crump and Others

Posted on 25/10/2022 by carolinemmurray

23 October 2022 was Apple Day @CUBotanicGarden, and after the glorious warm sunlight of the day before, it was a bit disconcerting to be walking down Bateman Street to the back entrance, poised to take my place with my knife … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Natural history | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Drought

Posted on 10/08/2022 by carolinemmurray

According to the National Geographic Society, a drought happens when: ‘Below-average precipitation affects the amount of moisture in soil as well as the amount of water in streams, rivers, lakes, and groundwater.’ Alternatively, the United States Government says it is … Continue reading →

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Another Botanic Garden

Posted on 31/07/2022 by carolinemmurray

Coudeberg, Pierre Coudebergus, Petrus Coudenberch, Peeter van Coudenberg (Petrus) Coudenberg (Pierre) Coudenberg, Pieter Coudenbergh, Peter Coudenberghe, Peeter van Coudenberghe, Peter Coudenbergius, Petrus Coundenberg (Pieter) Koudenbergh Koudenbergh, Pieter are all the alternative spellings I have so far come across for this … Continue reading →

Posted in Belgium, Bibliography, Biography, Botany, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | 6 Comments

Plant of the Month: April 2022

Posted on 07/04/2022 by carolinemmurray

I first (consciously) saw an Amelanchier lamarckii in the Abbey Gardens at Bury St Edmunds in spring some thirty years ago. At the time, it seemed a delightful, delicate and exotic rarity, but either they have become more popular or … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, History, Natural history | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Buds

Posted on 09/03/2022 by carolinemmurray

March is all about anticipation: admittedly, whitethorn and Prunus cerasifera are doing their thing, and Mahonia is almost over, but, in the Botanic Garden, I don’t imagine I am the only person checking up on the great Prunus x yedoensis (the Yoshino cherry) … Continue reading →

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