Tag Archives: botany

Francesco Cupani

Posted on 23/10/2019 by carolinemmurray

The Alpine House @CUBotanicgarden is pretty stunning at the moment, what with the cyclamen, autumn crocus and colchicums – do go and have a look! Among all the incredibly photogenic flowers, I came across Colchicum cupani, which compelled me finally … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Gardens, History, Italy, London, Natural history | Tagged botany, Francesco Cupani, gardens, Paolo Silvio Boccone, Robert Uvedale, Sicily, sweet peas | 5 Comments

Plant of the Month: April 2019

Posted on 10/04/2019 by carolinemmurray

Which came first, fritillary as the name of a plant (Fritillaria meleagris, the snake’s-head fritillary, also known as chess-flower, Lazarus-bell, leper-lily, frog-cup, or drooping tulip), or fritillary as the name of a butterfly? It seems that the plant has priority, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged botany, bulbs, crown imperial, flower painting, fritillary, John Gerard, John Parkinson, Maria Sibylla Merian | 3 Comments

Plant of the Month: March 2019

Posted on 09/03/2019 by carolinemmurray

As I have mentioned in passing before, the botanist Pierre Magnol (1638–1715) was born in Montpellier, and spent most of his life there. His father and grandfather were apothecaries, and his mother’s male relatives were physicians. His older brother César … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, France, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged botany, Charles Plumier, Curtis' Botanical Magazine, Ehret, magnolias, Montpellier, Pierre Magnol, Redouté, Tournefort | 5 Comments

Plant of the Month: February 2019

Posted on 21/02/2019 by carolinemmurray

I had always thought that Garrya elliptica, usually at its most spectacular at this time of year, was an Australian plant. I have no idea why … In fact, it comes from a quite restricted strip of coastal western America, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Botany, Exploration, Gardens, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged botany, David Douglas, Garrya elliptica, John Lindley, Sarah Ann Drake, taxonomy | 1 Comment

William Turner, Naturalist

Posted on 08/09/2018 by carolinemmurray

I have mentioned before Dr Richard Pulteney (1730–1801), the sole survivor of eleven children from an Old Anabaptist family near Loughborough, Leicestershire, who was apprenticed to an apothecary and then set up as an apothecary and surgeon in Leicester. After … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, History, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged botany, herbals, Richard Pulteney, William Turner | 2 Comments

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 botany, Exploration, Joseph Dalton Hooker, natural history, silver birch, Victor Jacquemont | Leave a comment

Plant of the Month: February 2018

Posted on 18/02/2018 by carolinemmurray

‘In regard to plants, no one has treated this subject [natural selection] with more spirit and ability than W. Herbert, Dean of Manchester, evidently the result of his great horticultural knowledge.’ Charles Darwin, in On the Origin of Species I … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Gardens, Natural history, Printing and Publishing, Uncategorized | Tagged Amaryllis, botany, bulbs, Chelsea Flower Show, Hippeastrum, natural selection, taxonomy, William Herbert | 5 Comments

Plant of the Month: January 2018

Posted on 21/01/2018 by carolinemmurray

The first problem I have in considering the hazel (apart from the minor detail that, in the last few days when I have been confined to bed/the house, it has been bright and sunny – ideal photographic weather – and … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Classics, Gardens, Italy, Natural history | Tagged botany, climate change, ctakins, hazel, hazelnut, plant of the month, spring | 2 Comments

The Mustard Plant of the Scriptures

Posted on 05/01/2018 by carolinemmurray

Discussion of conifers and mention of David Don brings me back to Mr Aylmer Bourke Lambert (1761–1842), whose great work on the genus was published in seven parts, with plates by Ferdinand Bauer (collaborator on John Sibthorp’s Flora graeca, artist … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Botany, Gardens, History, London, Natural history | Tagged Aylmer Bourke Lambert, botany, Cory Library, Exploration, herbaria, Linnean Society, Sir J.E. Smith, Sir Joseph Banks | 1 Comment

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 botany, Chelsea Flower Show, Frank Kingdon Ward, Lilium mackliniae, plant hunting | 4 Comments