Stephen Spitewinter

Back to the N Hemisphere next week. I'm cataloguing old factory ledgers tomorrow, back on Tuesday. Have a good weekend 🙂

#plants #history #botany #art

Castanospermum australe - #Qeensland Black Bean, Moreton Bay Chestnut

Following the Endeavour around #Australia & #NewZealand. Impressive tree common to N forests. Beans may be/are toxic; take First Nations advice on preparation.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castano...

Wollemia - Wikipedia

#plants #trees #history #botany 🌲

Wollemia nobilis - Wollemi pine

Whilst we're in the rich, super-isolated environment that is #NewZealand - here's another 'living fossil' tree that was rediscovered in 1994. (Although theoretically not native to NZ.)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wollemia

#plants #trees #history #botany 🌳

Dicksonia squarrosa syn. Trichomanes squarrosum - #NewZealand Tree Fern.

Essential, prehistoric but a marvellous survivor. Illustration credit National Library of NZ.
natlib.govt.nz/records/2252...

NZ Department of Conservation
www.doc.govt.nz/nature/nativ...

I think a serious re-think of museum attitudes to security is overdue. These incidents are neither new or uncommon.

#plants #history #botany #art 🌼
Vandasina retusa (many syn.) - commonly 'Vandasina'

Attractive leguminous vine/shrub with purple inflorescences and decorative pods. Tropical but sometimes sold as a house plant. Native #Queensland & #NewGuinea .

Sadly sparse refs -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandasina

#plants #history #botany #art 🌼

Metrosideros polymorpha - ōhiʻa lehua

Back to the #Pacific. A Bottle Brush species - native to #Hawaii . Genus is spread over S.Pacific and reported common to Cook Islands. A tough plant, makes a living from poor volcanic soil.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosi...

Project Gutenberg #Australia has a free, downloadable transcription of 'The Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks' which makes interesting reading.

If you dig down into my profile you'll find a short bio link for Joseph Banks that I posted last year.

gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/050...

‪ #trees #history #botany #art 🌳

Dillenia alata - Red Beech, Golden Guinea Tree

Imposing, massive rainforest tree native to #Australia - Queensland, Northern Territories & New Guinea. Specimens didn't travel very far - impractical to try to grow in Europe.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilleni...

#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

Griselinia lucida - Akapuka, Shiny Broadleaf

Native to #Newzealand N. Island, Griselinia is a genus in its own right. Confusing: refs say it can exist as an epiphyte in the forest canopy OR as shrub. First recorded during Cook's voyage of HMS Endeavour 1768 - 71.

‪Ellis Rowan

The lady herself at her easel. This shows a problem for illustrations from #Australia & #NewZealand. By the time most botanical surveys were done the camera had arrived. Beautiful hand-coloured plates were replaced with grainy photographs or cheap black & white lithographs. 🙁

#plants #history #botany #art

Acacia Pycnantha - Golden Wattle

I've neglected #Australia and #NewZealand - more images this week. First a shout for Ellis Rowan. Her style was artistic rather than scientific but a talented observer of native plants.

Bio and works
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_R...

#plants #history #art 🌼

Claude Monet, 1840-1926
'The Artist’s Garden in Argenteuil (A Corner of the Garden with Dahlias)'
Oils on canvas c1873

Have a good weekend. I'm doing a couple of meetings for the catalogue work I've volunteered for. Back on Tuesday. (I love the smell of ageing ledgers.)

This is a Food Niche. If a species can eat something that no/few others can or will, then they have the restaurant to themselves. I don't know anything useful about deer but if Yew is supposed to be poisonous to the White Tails please find some researchers. You're watching evolution.

#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

BTW don't confuse with -
Fatsia japonica - often sold as an indoor 'Castor Oil Plant' but in fact an Aralia with very similar leaves. Actually quite hardy - I have one 3 metres high in my garden.

First posted late last year - worth another look.

#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

Ricinus communis-Castor Oil Plant

A very useful oil plant - turns up in medicine, bio-research, chemistry and aviation. Original core product of the Castrol Company - Cast(or) O(i)l 🙂

A good, quick intro from MacQuarie Uni, #Sydney :
www.mq.edu.au/__data/asset...

A bit disorganised yesterday - was discussing some interesting work / history research.

#plants #trees #history #botany #art 🌲

Taxus baccata - English Yew, Common Yew

Folk lore has it that the English used Churchyard Yew longbows - not true. Spanish Yew was straighter and better quality. (Confirmed by an Olympian archer I knew.)

Bows and trees:
www.longbow-archers.com/longbow.html

#plants #trees #history #botany #art 🌲

Taxus baccata - English Yew, Common Yew

Folk lore has it that the English used Churchyard Yew longbows - not true. Spanish Yew was straighter and better quality. (Confirmed by an Olympian archer I knew.)

Bows and trees:
www.longbow-archers.com/longbow.html

#plants #history #botany #art

I'm going to make a few reposts from the early days, when there were only 3 million active accounts - about 35 million now. First up is Myristica fragrans.
If I've found better illustrations I'll use them, and if there are more interesting references I'll quote them.

And that should be #spices, sorry!

#plants #history #botany #spaces #art
Myristica fragrans - Nutmeg

Native to volcanic Malaku island in the Bandas, worth it's weight in gold to European traders during the Early Modern period.

Spice Wars:
'Nathaniel's Nutmeg' by Giles Milton.

Short history:
herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/plants40...

#plants #history #botany #art

I'm going to make a few reposts from the early days, when there were only 3 million active accounts - about 35 million now. First up is Myristica fragrans.
If I've found better illustrations I'll use them, and if there are more interesting references I'll quote them.

#plants #history #botany #art 🌼

Gladiolus segetum, G.paluster & G.imbricatus - native European Gladioli.

Illustration c1903

Don't have the time for detail today - going to Oxford for a meeting / catch up with old colleagues. Enjoy the day, if you can. 🙂

#plants #history #art #France 🌱

Thomas Seddon 1821–1856,
Léhon seen from Mont Parnasse, Brittany,
Oils on canvas c1853

Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Via Wikimedia Commons.

I wish you all a peaceful and enjoyable weekend.

#plants #history #agriculture 🚜

I'm off to the Yorkshire show today. I'm going to look at sheep, tractors, cattle, pigs (and probably pay around £1,000 for an ice cream).

Have fun?

greatyorkshireshow.co.uk

Soho Square - Government Art Collection Duncan Grant - Soho Square - oil painting

Platanus × hispanica syn. P. × acerifolia - London Plane

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London Planes shading Soho Square. From the UK Government Art Collection.

Soho Square
Duncan Grant (1885 - 1978)
Oil on canvas
1961
artcollection.dcms.gov.uk/artwork/5927/

London Plane (Platanus x hispanica) - British Trees - Woodland Trust

Platanus × hispanica syn. P. × acerifolia - London Plane

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Quick reads:

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-...

bromleyhouse.org/plane-sailin...

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#plants #trees #history #botany #art 🌳

Platanus × hispanica syn. P. × acerifolia - London Plane

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Hybrid of P. orientalis (illustration) and P. occidentalis, probably in Spain or France C17. Majestic 40 metre-high trees shading the London Squares and making life bearable in the city.

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