Category Archives: Exploration

Plant of the Month: January 2019

Posted on 25/01/2019 by carolinemmurray

A lot of choice, during this (so far) mild winter. I wondered about Sycopsis chinensis, of which the yellow filaments are currently glowing @CUBotanicGarden, or one of my own winter-flowering clematis, but – not only because it is glorious in … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Cambridge, Exploration, Gardens, History, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Plant of the Month: August 2018

Posted on 27/08/2018 by carolinemmurray

This month, I give you Gladiolus murielae, for no better reason (or, in my opinion, the extremely cogent reason) that I have, after several years of trying, actually got it to flower this year! Admittedly, one flower and one bud … Continue reading →

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Doomed to Find a Premature Grave

Posted on 06/08/2018 by carolinemmurray

These portentous words appear in the introduction to the 1834 English edition of Letters from India by the French natural historian Victor Jacquemont (1801–32), ‘Travelling Naturalist to the Museum of Natural History, Paris’. If his name is remembered now in … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Botany, Exploration, France, Gardens, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fool’s Gold

Posted on 19/04/2018 by carolinemmurray

The other day, I came across the name of Giambattista Angello, described as a Venetian alchemist in London. Always keen to follow the path of the legendary all-purpose cure, theriaca, around Europe, I pursued him, though I was slightly puzzled … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Exploration, History, Italy, Natural history, Printing and Publishing, Venice | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Small But Perfectly Formed

Posted on 19/01/2018 by carolinemmurray

When I was unexpectedly cast upon the shore of the Island of Leisure, nearly three years ago now, one of the resolutions I made to myself in contemplation of the Rest of the Journey of My Life was that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Exploration, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Death on the Ice

Posted on 09/11/2017 by carolinemmurray

Can I enthusiastically recommend the current (until 7 January 2018) ‘Death in the Ice’ exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich? It contains some fantastic Stuff (including artefacts found in the ongoing investigations of the recently discovered wrecks of … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Biography, Exploration, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Plant of the Month: June 2017

Posted on 21/06/2017 by carolinemmurray

There is no doubt that, for a very long period, the pineapple was THE evidence, across Europe, of your wealth, your taste, and your ability to choose a head gardener for your estates who could manage a stove-house. This exotic … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Exploration, Gardens, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Plant of the Month: May 2017

Posted on 31/05/2017 by carolinemmurray

When an unfortunate juxtaposition of my slippery sandal and the glass-like surface of a marble step in Venice had fairly uncomfortable consequences a couple of weeks ago, my second conscious thought (the first having been ‘I hope this wasn’t caught … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Exploration, Gardens, Natural history | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Thunbergiana

Posted on 16/05/2017 by carolinemmurray

I was picking stems of my Deutzia to bring indoors (an activity which presents a rather more domesticated and delightful image of the châtelaine of Château Hedgehog than the reality), when it occurred to me that although I have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Exploration, Gardens, History, Natural history | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

Lucca

Posted on 14/04/2017 by carolinemmurray

I never quite understood what was so great about St Martin slicing his cloak in two and giving half to a beggar: why didn’t he just hand over the whole cloak and be done with it? He was a soldier … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Exploration, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments