botany

Paleobotany Of Four Medieval Strongholds

aardvarchaeology — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 12:20:38 +0000

Paleobotany Of Four Medieval Strongholds

Palaeobotanist Jennie Andersson has analysed four soil samples for me, all from floor layers inside buildings at Medieval strongholds that me and my team have excavated in recent years. There's one each from Stensö, Landsjö, Skällvik and Birgittas udde. Results were sadly not very informative.

Comments Jennie:

"Overall the fossil and carbonised botanical material in the samples, as well as the recent unburnt material, is meagre … No carbonised cereals were found. Three of the four samples did however contain rather large amounts of unburnt bones and scales from fish plus jurpa, a blanket term för amorphous burnt organic material which may represent bread, burnt food, cooking waste or animal fat. Both the fish bones and the cooking waste probably originate in household cooking and waste management … The presence of burnt weeds such as goosefoot, bedstraw, smartweed and clover (Chenopodium album, Galium spp., Persicaria lapathifolia, Trifolium spp.), all of which thrive on nutrient-rich, sometimes slightly damp and open ground and around farms, tally well with what we may imagine would have been common in a castle bailey or around a farm yard where livestock and people tread about every day and share space."

Report in Swedish here.

aardvarchaeology Sat, 06/03/2017 - 08:20

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Jurpa!
It doesn't seem to be an acronym - is it a portmanteau? Despite being a native Swede I can't begin to decipher it.

Is there a paleobotanyetymologist in the house?

I've never heard this word before I received the report. Sounds like guck, jox or kladd to me.

Spring in California: Saturday is Fascination of Plants Day

pronald — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:33:31 +0000

Spring in California: Saturday is Fascination of Plants Day

On Saturday, May 18, the second international "Fascination of Plants Day" will take place under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organization (EPSO). Join in to see for yourself how fascinating plant are. Show your support for plant science, which is critical for sustainable food production, biobased medicines, and energy. There are 54 countries participating in the Fascination of Plants Day, with over 650 institutions involved and 950 events planned!

Check out this interactive map that shows all of the participating countries.

Here at the University of California, Davis, the renowned Botanical Conservatory will be open from 10am – 1pm on the 18^th of May to celebrate Fascination of Plants Day 2013. The conservatory is home to the titan, or Amorphophallus titanium, a truly fascinating plant that takes 15 years to bloom, and has only been known to flower about 100 times around the world, including 7 times at UC-Davis!

Two more exciting events are plants in California, one at the Plant Biology Department at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford and the other at the Livermore Art Association. At Stanford, middle school students from East Palo Alto will use advanced imaging technologies to observe fluorescence and luminescence in plant materials. Further details about this event can be found here on the Fascination of Plants Day website. At the second event in Livermore, local artists and children will celebrate the impact of plants on our lives by decorating bicycle wheels with creative plant themes. On May 18th the wheels will be displayed by participating businesses in downtown Livermore along the path of the Amgen Tour of California. Details about this event can be found here.

The Fascination of Plants Day has attracted a lot of attention all over the world, with the Ministers of Agriculture in the Czech Republic, Norway and Slovakia officially serving as national patrons. The nearly 1000 events internationally will showcase about 250,000 plant species! Details about the various events and lots of fun facts and information can be found on Twitter.

pronald Thu, 05/16/2013 - 14:33

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The Fascination of Plants Day has attracted a lot of attention all over the world

Spring in California

pronald — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 17:49:59 +0000

Spring in California

Today we took the children to Table Mountain, a volcanic mesa in northern California.

It is a special place, preserved from development by the dense, rocky texture of the soil- no good for farming. We strolled through carpets of flowers Lasthenia californica (California goldfields). Blemnosperma nanum (yellow carpet), Lupinus nanus, Triteleia ixiodies (pretty face), Castilleja exserta (purple owls clover), Triphysaria eriantha (Jonnytuck or Butter 'n' eggs), Eschscholzia caespitosa, (foothill poppy), popcorn flower and gaze at the box kites flying overhead. The blue, grey and white match the darkening sky.

From here, 1000 feet above the valley floor, you can see the Sutter Buttes, the entire valley and the coast range just beyond.

We follow the small stream down a steep canyon where it spills into a pool of water full of California newts and Pacific tree frogs. The children dodge the poison oak to capture and release the animals, investigate the kangaroo rate burrows and make small dams in the stream. A bald eagle flies overhead. The cliff walls are covered in spike moss, gold-backed fern (Pentagramma triangularis), Sidalcea calycosa, Aristolochia californica, Dudleya cymosa, a tiny monkey flower and Galium parisiense (bedstraw; the same weed I have been pulling out of my garden all week),

And a brand new flower for me: a small herb with green fruit shaped like small perforated frisbees. What is it? Some kind of Brassicaeas? Yes. I look it up. It is Thysanocarpus curvipes (fringepod). A perfect seed to make a pair of earrings for a 10 year old.

Further down the canyon, we walk under California buckeye (Aesculus californica) and valley oak (Quercus lobata). Along the stream we see Nemophila heterophylla, Limnanthes douglasii (meadowfoam), Linanthus bicolor, Claytonia perfoliata, Mimulus guttatus, and floating in the water: Ranunculs aquatilis va. hispidulus (water buttercup).

Californians like to move up in elevation from spring to late summer. Last weekend we walked through the vernal pools at Jepson prairie, this weekend we are 1000 Feet higher. By the end of the summer we will be on top of Mt Tallac in the Sierra Nevada. Even in late August we are sure to find spring there.

It starts to rain. It is time to go home. The children walk barefoot through the mud and flowers back to the car. Along the road on the steep hills, we spy a final treat-my favorite flower, Calochortus albus (white globe lily).

In 1.5 hours, we are home again. The garden is freshly mulched, with massive amounts of weeds pulled and fed to the hens. The irrigation is turned on. We are ready for the summer heat.

Raoul rode his bike to the farm to pick some strawberries. We fetch some eggs to make strawberry shortcake using a recipe from my tattered yellowed copy of Laurel's Kitchen.

Hiking, botanizing, cooking and eating strawberry shortcake. Sure beats sitting on an airplane bound for WA DC or NYC- something I will be doing a lot of the next few months.

pronald Sun, 04/24/2011 - 13:49

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I think it would be really cool to go to Table Mountain! The way you described it, along with the pictures, makes it seem like a gorgeous place. While I was reading the part of the post where you were talking about the flowers that you saw, and you mentioned Triphysaria eriantha Johnny tuck, I realized that I had never heard of that flower before. I looked up some stuff about it and found why I wouldnât be familiar with that flower. It is native to California and it grows in some areas bordering California. I also found another nickname for it, and I donât know if youâre familiar with it but it is butter ânâ eggs. I saw a picture of it and it is a interesting and pretty flower.

I really enjoyed reading this. It told me different stuff about flowers I didn't know about. I was reading through part of it, and I ntocied I havent really heard of any of these flowers. I think I might research them, and find out the information I don't know. I've always wanted to go to California, but I never knew what it'd be like there. Now I know there are very many wonderful things in the Spring time. There were beautiful flowers, that I learned about. I look forward to reading more about these posts.

I think this article was interesting because there are many different flowers and it's very georgouse in the summer of california. I like the summer alot and I like flowers too so this article made me know a little more about them both.

I think post is very interesting!

This post was very interesting. It told me alot about flowers i didnt even know about. This reminds me how much I love summer!This was a great post.

@Brittany. Yes, Johnny Tuck is also called Butter 'n' eggs I have added that in as well. Thanks for the reminder.

This blog was nicely put but its about to be spring everywhere else to. California is a beuatiful state with cool plants and creatures but when spring comes everywhere is beuatiful as well.

This blog was nicely put but its about to be spring everywhere else to.

Hemispherist!

I really enjoyed this blg. The flowers names in California, they have some names i didnt know about!It is a very pretty place. This place make me miss the summer and not the rain. Its a beautiful place. I would love to live here!!!

This blog was pretty interesting. It really caught my eye with all the different flowers that you have compared to the ones where I was from. The one flower that I absolutely like is definitely the Calochortus albus.

Spring must be really beautiful in California. The flowers are really pretty and their names are different. With all the wonderful places and the natural habitat that is in California must be something else from spring to the end of summer.
Destiny E.

This part of California sounds gorgeous. I have cousins in California and they tell me what its like there, but those pictures put into a different perspective. My aunt owns a greenhouse, but her flowers never look that pretty. It makes me wish to move there to take in the beauty that is there.

Absolutely beautiful pictures.

Fake Plant Botany

sastyk — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 06:34:06 +0000

Fake Plant Botany

Great article from "The Annals of Improbable Research" on "Artificae Plantae: The Taxonomy, Ecology and Ethnobotany of Simulacra." It is about time someone did this research:

A previously unacknowledged plant family of significant economic importance plants has been flourishing around us for many years. The fact that this immense and diverse family has been heretofore ignored by most botanists is astonishing--its members are found worldwide in nearly every society. This family is more than a botanical curiosity. It is a scientific conundrum, as the taxa:

1.lack genetic material,
2.appear virtually immortal and
3.have the ability to form intergeneric crosses with ease, despite the lack of any evident mechanism for cross-fertilization.

I wonder where they'd place the play-dough gingko tree Isaiah made?

Sharon

sastyk Wed, 10/13/2010 - 02:34

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humor

botany

silliness

The family does appear to have the ability to evolve, at least since the 1950s. Quite a change from 1950s era plastic flowers to current so-called silk flowers, based on observations of my grandmom's plants versus the ones I see for sale now. I think this deserves serious scientific investigation. Maybe we need to start a fund from which we can make grants for the study of evolution of Simulacra.

I am something of an amateur observer of simulacra, in particular the branch of the taxum that tends to flourish on cemetery gravesites. I have noticed that these plants have a seemingly symbiotic relationship with a rigid green foam derived from petroleum. Wherever you find the simulacra, you find the foam. Amazing!

I'm afraid the phenomenon is much broader than suggested, since years (ok, decades) ago I identified a large colony of Eptesicus plasticus in the gift store at Carlsbad Caverns. It seems likely to me we're observing the results of another plot by DuPont/Monsanto, to turn us all into zombies...

Me thinks a literature search is in order, references to Plantus plasticus have been around for decades and would clearly have taxonomic priority. One wonders about the state of peer review.

Phyto: "One wonders about the state of peer review."

lol. No, one doesn't, if one's been watching it recently... :-)

Another form of Simulacra that seems to have evolved significantly since the 1950s is Arboreus nativitatis, a species that, for some strange reason, people like to erect in their homes and decorate with painted glass globes and tiny electric lights each December. The ones from the 1950s had distinctive flat, silver-colored needles, but more recently the needles have more closely resembled those of the spruce or short-needled pine. They also evolved a more woody-looking central stem; in the older specimens, the stem resembled a dark-colored cylindrical tube.

Sharon, thanks for this post. I am one of the authors. Just a note, the title was cut off- it's "Simulacraceae" as the name of the plant family to conform to the rigid standards of botanical nomenclature. We may have to describe a new genus for the play-dough gingko tree as we haven't observed that one.... hmm... maybe Moldibulpastium gingkoidium ssp. isaiahii.

Lee, the observation of the symbiotic (mutualist or parasitic) relationship between Plasticus spp. and the petrofoam is great! We'd observed some biodiversity of Simulacraceae in cemeteries in our longer version of the article at
http://www.erajournal.org/ojs/index.php/era/article/view/127/112
but missed this essential ecological aspect!

And, Claire, we're already on starting a multi-center interdisciplinary 10-year Simulagenome research program funded by the "National Science Foundation, United States Department of Agriculture, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Endowment for the Emancipation of the Humor Impaired (NEE-HI)." You should join us!

No doubt you're already aware of the plasticine plants which were exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show last year, and won a medal.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/chelseaflowershow/5324764/James-Ma…

Nat- bless you! You're filling a desperate need. :-)

May I suggest, for your next grant application, that an extended expedition to the great Pacific Ocean wabe is paramount. Clearly, this is likely to be the core for the evolution of polybased life forms.

sorry, guess that has to be "unlife" forms.

Seedlessness

cagapakis — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:01:07 +0000

Seedlessness

Thanks to some informative comments on my post about figs and wikipedia my knowledge of botany is slowly improving and my admiration of figs steadily increasing. Many species of figs are pollinated by symbiotic wasps, but there are other fig varieties that develop edible, seedless figs through a process called parthenocarpy. A dominant mutation in the plant allows unfertilized flowers to stay on the tree and develop into yummy figs. While these seedless fruits are delicious, the plants that produce them are sterile, able to reproduce only through human intervention.

Fig trees are particularly easy to propagate seedlessly by simply planting new branch shoots, and this simplicity made figs one of the earliest domesticated plants. Recent archaeobotanic evidence suggests that fig trees were possibly the earliest plants to be domesticated, approximately 11,400 years ago, a thousand years before the domestication of grains. By cracking open carbonized figs found in an early Neolithic village, the archeologists realized that the villagers were eating and storing seedless parthenocarpic figs, suggesting that they were also likely planting cuttings from the tree, intentionally creating domesticated parthenocarpic fig trees from the wild mutant variety which can make both seeded and seedless figs.

Propagation of naturally occurring seedless varieties is just one way to get seedless fruit. Wild bananas are full of hard seeds that make them impossible to eat, but crossing strains of bananas that have four sets of chromosomes (tetraploid) to strains that have only two (diploid) yields sterile triploid bananas. The odd number of chromosomes can't be split evenly during meiosis, making it impossible for the cell to produce the gametes that mix to become the seeds, making triploid bananas edible.

Parthenocarpy can also be artificially induced in multiple species of plants through application of chemical growth regulators on the developing flower or through genetic engineering. Pollination activates the production of several plant hormones that in turn start off the process that makes the fruits. Injecting the hormones into the proto-figs makes seedless figs in otherwise normal plants, as detailed in this fun PDF of an article from 1948 discussing early studies of chemical induced fruit development. Instead of externally applying the hormones, genes that activate hormone production can also be engineered into normal plants so that the hormone will be produced even in the absence of pollination.

Seedless fruits are great for eating, but because they are propagated clonally, without mixing genes from two plants together as occurs during pollination, the dearth of genetic diversity can make populations especially susceptible to infection and disease. Agricultural and genetic tools to increase diversity in farms and orchards and to develop more resistant strains can be used together to keep seedless varieties alive. The history of plant domestication, breeding, and, much more recently, genetic engineering is long and fascinating and something I'm hoping to learn a lot more about--any good reading recommendations?

cagapakis Mon, 09/13/2010 - 08:01

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Nice report on Agricultural and genetic tools.

Majavankaalit

grrlscientist — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:59:03 +0000

Majavankaalit

tags: botany, Majavankaalit, skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, Helsinki, Finland, travel, photography, image of the day

Symplocarpus foetidus (Family: Araceae) (Majavankaalit or Skunk Cabbage)
Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

Image: GrrlScientist, 15 May 2010 [larger view].

grrlscientist Wed, 05/19/2010 - 08:59

I hope that you are enjoying your holiday,Grrl.
I think that Arums are nearly as fascinating a group of plants as Orchids and Cacti. I used to have quite a collection of them in my youth, although my mother didn't approve of the smell for some reason.

Not a flower of course, but an inflorescence, a whole spike of little flowers wrapped up in a showy bract.

Cultural Synthetic Biology

cagapakis — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:06:11 +0000

Cultural Synthetic Biology

The future potential of synthetic biology is usually discussed in terms of applications in fields like medicine, food science, and the environment. Genetically engineered life forms are being designed to make medicines cheaply, to target tumor cells, to make more nutritious food, or to make agricultural plants that are easier to grow with less of an environmental impact, to clean up pollution or produce sustainable biofuels. What if synthetic biology systems were instead designed for use in culture or entertainment?

David BenquÃ©, a student in the Design Interactions program at the Royal College of Art in London, explores using hypothetical genetically engineered plants to create an acoustic sound garden. Bugs engineered to chew specially designed nuts in rhythm, whistling termites, lilly pad speakers, and popping seed pods populate this imaginary garden.

This Acoustic Botany is fascinating in terms of synthetic biology, rethinking and expanding the potential scope of genetic design, as well as having implications for how we think about natural ecologies of sound. As Nick writes over at Noise For Airports:

Primarily, this seems like a very interesting way to create an opposing form of acoustic ecology. Most work in acoustic ecology is about reducing human sonic influence in nature, and protecting "natural" soundscapes. Genetic engineering (or at least the implausibly specific and sonic version BenquÃ© describes) offers another way to get into nature's sounds and alter the soundscape.

Synthetic biology aims to replace a great deal of chemical manufacturing, medical technologies, and fuel production. Although it's unlikely that synthetic biology will replace many entertainment technologies, it's interesting to think about how synthetic biology may alter the way we interact with and enjoy our environment. It's fun to design new living systems, maybe it will be fun to use them too.

(via we-make-money-not-art, via Noise For Airports)

cagapakis Mon, 02/15/2010 - 08:06

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Very interesting. I had not imagined the possible aesthetic applications for synthetic biology. But if life itself is becoming a technology, then it makes sense that all possible applications will be open for exploration.

New Species of Orchid is World's Smallest

grrlscientist — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:27:32 +0000

New Species of Orchid is World's Smallest

tags: new species, biology, botany, orchid, tiniest orchid, Orchidaceae, Platystele, Lou Jost

A close-up of the world's smallest orchid, at just over 2mm from petal tip to petal tip.

Image: Lou Jost.

The world's smallest orchid was discovered recently in a mountainous nature reserve in Ecuador by American botanist Lou Jost. Dr. Jost, a former physicist, now works as a mathematical ecologist, plant biogeographer and conservation scientist, and is one of the world's most expert orchid hunters. In the previous decade, Dr. Jost discovered 60 new species of orchids and 10 other new plant species. He discovered this diminutive plant whilst examining another species of small orchid that he was cultivating.

"I found it among the roots of another plant that I had collected, another small orchid which I took back to grow in my greenhouse to get it to flower," Dr. Jost stated. "A few months later I saw that down among the roots was a tiny little plant that I realized was more interesting than the bigger orchid."

"Looking at the flower is often the best way to be able to identify which species of orchid you're got hold of -- and can tell you whether you're looking at an unknown species or not," explained Dr. Jost (pictured at right).

The tiny flower is just 2.1 millimeters -- less than half an inch -- across and the petals are only one cell thick: the flower is transparent. This discovery has been tentatively classified as a new species of Platystele, a genus that is primarily comprised miniature plants.

Previously, another orchid, Platystele jungermannioides, discovered in 1912, was recognized as the tiniest species known in the world.

Dr. Jost, an expert orchid hunter, recently discovered another tiny orchid that is new to science while searching the Rio Anzu Reserve in central Ecuador.

"It was so small, it looked like a piece of dirt at first," said Dr. Jost of that plant.

"I was going through the moss on a fallen tree branch -- they're good places for orchids to grow -- when I spotted it. The flower was 3mm across."

That previously unknown small orchid is another Platystele species.

This newest plant species was collected in the Cerro Candelaria reserve in the eastern Andes Mountains. This 2113 hectare reserve, comprising mainly Cloud Florest and Paramo (tropical alpine grasslands), was created by the EcoMinga Foundation, based in Ecuador, in partnership with the World Land Trust in Great Britain. Dr. Jost is a cofounder of the EcoMinga Foundation.

The Cerro Candelaria reserve is a rich biological transition zone that stretches between the Sangay National Park in the Andes Mountains towards the Los Llanganates National Park in the Amazon River Basin. The Cerro Candelaria region of Ecuador is known for its many tiny orchid species, and it is home to a number of rare and poorly-known orchids, including an orchid genus found no where else. Already 16 species of orchid new to science have been discovered in this reserve as well as a new species of frog and a new species of tree that will be named in honor of Sir David Attenborough. This nature reserve is also home to threatened animal and bird species such as the White-rimmed Brush-Finch and the Mountain Tapir, Spectacled Bear and Ocelot.

The world's smallest orchid, at just over 2mm from petal tip to petal tip.

Image: Lou Jost.

"It's an exciting feeling to find a new species. People think everything has been discovered but there's much more," Dr. Jost pointed out.

Dr. Jost's most dramatic discovery so far was 28 new orchid species in the genus, Teagueia -- which had previously included just six species. Teagueia orchids are a spectacular plant radiation that evolved in an area that is smaller than the island of Manhattan. The radiation of these 28 closely related orchids in such a small area is celebrated as a botanical version of Darwin's finches.

Road construction through the most remote and pristine regions in Ecuador has led to the discovery of more than 1,000 orchid species in the past century. These species that are new-to-science are eagerly pursued by orchid collectors, greenhouses and breeders as well as botanists and other scientists throughout the world.

Sources and Background Reading:

Smallest species of orchid discovered hidden in another plant (quotes).

Lou Jost's profile on Nature Network.

Lou Jost's Monograph of the Genus Teagueia. Fascinating reading about all these new orchid species. Includes comments about unresolved taxonomic issues in this genus and images of each flower.

Read more about the Cerro Candelaria nature reserve.

Read more about the EcoMinga Foundation.

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Thanks for the story, but there are some huge errors I must correct. I certainly did not discover P jungermanniodes, nor did I see it in Ecuador. I had seen other small Platystele here in Ecuador (not P jungermanniodes, which has been known since 1912 and not even found in Ecuador), and those are what my quotes referred to. I did find this new, smaller one, though.

Wow.

Does it really have one cell thick petals Dr. Jou? I assumed there had to be at least two outer layers of epidermis and a parenchyme, which are three layers.
I suspect if it is relly only one cell layer thick, it maybe has a interesting derived leaf development. In animals at least, organs are built by inductive signals between different tissues, often between mesenchyme and epithelium. if one is missing, no organ forms. If I may suggest this, you should ask some Arabidopsis people you know if they are interested in this plant.

What I always wonder about is how do you make sure you haven't just taken the only remaining specimen from its natural habitat?

Also, are you taking steps to prevent the collectors from trampling all over the area in search of these few interesting plants, destroying the myriad species of plants and insects?

Jerry, if it's the last surviving individual, it's probably safer in a good glasshouse than in the wild. Apart from anything else, whatever killed off the rest is presumably still out there. WRT the other question, most field biologists/botanists I've met have had a pretty good instinct for not trampling plants (so do a lot of gardeners!) acquired from years of watching where you put your feet until it became automatic. Plenty of types of plant will recover quickly from being trodden on, so you step on them not on the fragile ones. I'm not saying there'll be no damage, but probably no more than any of the local medium to large mammals will cause.

thanks for the clarification, Dr. Jost.

Mo, the comment about the flower being one cell layer thick is based on casual observation under low magnification. I'll have to look at it with more magnification to really be sure...

Jerry, Stripey-cat makes good points. Anyway this is an epiphyte, growing in trees, so no chance of trampling. And I am the only orchid person who has ever gone there. Friends and I started a foundation to protect these forests where these and other unique orchids grow, and we actually pay two guards to keep orchid collectors and hunters off this particular mountain (which we have now purchased and made into a reserve--www.ecominga.com). However, this particular orchid is so small and inconspicuous and inaccessible up in these enormous mossy epiphyte-laden trees, that there is no chance that a collector could have much effect on its population.

By the way, just to put this place in perspective, it is at least one and a half day's hard uphill hike from the nearest road, and on a knife-edge ridge which is so steep on either side that no one ever would walk off the ridgeline path (which was made not by people but by Spectacled Bear and Maountain Tapir). This is not a city park.

Lou

Wow. That's just...that's stunning.

Ecuador is such a diverse and peaceful country. The weather, the colonial cities and the people are just fantastic. Nothing compares to the landscapes of the Highlands, the lush of the Amazon Rainforest, the exotic Beaches of the Coast and the mystery of the Galapagos Islands.

The tiny flower is just 2.1 millimeters -- less than half an inch...

Uh, yeah. Much less. More apt to say "less than a tenth of an inch."

Thank you for the answer, Dr. Jost.

"Jerry, if it's the last surviving individual, it's probably safer in a good glasshouse than in the wild"

Yep. Remember Franklinia.

Re: can they really only be one cell thick?

Basic rule in Botany - "Plants can and will do any damn thing they please, regardless of your textbooks."

:-)

I wonder how these orchids propagate - can they be bred to become larger? Or smaller! If this plant can reproduce via seeds, what insects pollinate it?

Phenomenal women in science photo collection

sciencewoman — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:41:35 +0000

Phenomenal women in science photo collection

The Smithsonian Institution has made available on Flickr an amazing set of photographs of early women scientists and engineers.The pictures include women who worked at the Smithsonian and images from the Science Service Archives now housed at the Smithsonian. Some of these women scientists are well-known, even Nobel laureates, while others worked in obscurity. Some used their scientific training and passion to do research, some to save lives as doctors and nurses, some to write about science, some to break the sound barrier, and some to advance the cause of women. To me, all of them were scientists.

Here's a sampling of the photos included in the collection (this one picked for ScienceGrandma to enjoy):

Mary Agnes Chase (1869-1963) specialized in the study of grasses and conducted extensive field work in South America, often personally funding her research trips, as it was considered inappropriate for women to conduct such work. Chase joined the Department of Agriculture in 1903 as a botanical illustrator and eventually became Scientific Assistant in Systematic Agrostology, 1907; Assistant Botanist, 1923; and Associate Botanist, 1925. In 1935, became Principal Botanist in charge of Systematic Agrostology and Custodian of the Section of Grasses, Division of Plants, United States National Museum.

You can read a bit more about Chase (and her political activism) on the Smithsonian Bigger Picture blog.

sciencewoman Fri, 03/20/2009 - 10:41

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A powerful collection of photos of very important people. The only think lacking (to me) is any written history with the photos - but that isn't what Flickr is for.

Thanks for posting this.

OMG, this is WAY cool. I have bookmarked the site.

Very good information about women in Science, in particular for those that still think women can't excel in Science. Also, it is something to beat Greg Laden's ideas.
Thank you!

Loved this so much! Thanks for posting :)

that is GREAT! Please, please, please tell me you are submiting this post for the Diversity in Science Women's History Month edition.

Here is another set of pictures, women engineers:
http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/image/tid/5

Very good information about women in science. It's certainly going in my bookmarks!

Thanks so much for sharing this link, I just spent a ton of time over there. I was a little disappointed not to see Frances Hamerstrom included. She was a wildlife biologist, the only woman to receive a graduate degree under Aldo Leopold. Her autobiography My Double Life: Memoirs of a Naturalist, is hugely entertaining. But what a fantastic collection! I'm going to pass it along to my Mom and sister.

Plants, steel, design, and the photos of Karl Blossfeldt

ddobbs — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:09:16 +0000

Plants, steel, design, and the photos of Karl Blossfeldt

A while back I tossed up some of Callie Shell's photos of Obama, and the post turned out to be one of the more popular here at Neuron Culture. Recently Soulcatcher Studios, the site that is running an expanded version of that slide show, has a portfolio of the lovely, strange, and arresting 1928 master work of photographer Karl Blossfeldt: Urformen der Kunst, or "Art Forms in Nature."

Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) was a German instructor of sculpture who used his remarkable photographs of plant studies to educate his students about design elements in nature. Self-taught in photography, he devoted himself to the study of nature, photographing nothing but flowers, buds and seed capsules for thirty-five years. He once said, "The plant never lapses into mere arid functionalism; it fashions and shapes according to logic and suitability, and with its primeval force compels everything to attain the highest artistic form."

I love these things. They're photos of plants meant to evoke human design; but they look like photos of ironwork meant to evoke nature.

Plate # 26: Cucurbita (magnified 3 times)

Plate 45: Delphinium (6x)

Tags

Very interesting stuff. Thanks.

Beautiful and fascinating, David. I am especially intrigued having just watched a Nova earlier this week on Evolution and Intelligent Design, and the Dover School Board decision, and how crucial the "engine" of a flagellum was in the case - indeed in the science itself. Although microscopic and organic, it certainly does look as if it was created by an intelligent being. As do many of these photos - as your comment about ironwork emphasizes - proving yet again that it is human design that echoes nature. Plus, they just look so cool.

"Urformen der Kunst" means something like "Original forms of art". Kunstformen der Natur, Ernst Haeckel's book of lithographs, means "Artforms of Nature"...

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