Botanical Art

September 28, 2009

Panda oleosa

UBC Botanical Garden's Randal Mindell is the author of today's entry (thank you!). As an aside, Eric La Fountaine will be organizing entries / sending out the notifications for the next week or so while I'm away. Randal writes:

Today we take a diversion into the world of botanical illustration and learn of a rare, photosynthetic Panda. Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien was originally published in 23 volumes between 1887 and 1915. Co-edited by Adolf Engler and Karl von Prantl, the series was extremely broad in scope, covering all genera of all families of all photosynthetic organisms, as well as fungi and an assortment of "protozoa". While the exhaustive Latin descriptions and German elaborations are remarkable enough, the scope of the illustration work is often underplayed. More than 30,000 unique drawings in Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien were engraved by the same illustrator, Josef Pohl. The scope and quality of these technical illustrations proved invaluable when many of the type specimens (i.e., the herbarium specimen that the name and published description are based upon) used for these illustrations went up in flames during the bombing of Berlin in World War II. As such, many illustrations remain as the only record of type material.

As demonstrated here in Figure 1, Volume 19 in the second edition of the series (public domain image used here), the illustration style was exhaustive, covering the stems, leaves, inflorescences, flowers, pollen, fruits and seeds of most genera, often times in both external form and internal anatomy (J,K,L,N,O,P). Descriptions and figures of this extent are rare elsewhere in the literature, so this work remains a relevant reference for fundamental botanical information long after its original publication.

Nuts of Panda oleosa (illustrated in the figure) are actually a common food for one of our closest living relatives. Chimpanzees in Africa have been observed to use primitive tools to smash open the nuts (PDF) and extract seed tissue.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 7:00 AM| Comments (12)

December 12, 2008

Jasper National Park

After taking photographs of these mountaintops in Jasper National Park, I decided to swivel the camera around and attempt a few panning abstracts of the mixed spruce and pine forest along the Columbia Icefields Parkway. This is one of the results.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 5:00 PM| Comments (17)

April 23, 2008

Zantedeschia 'Mango'

Elizabeth asked in the comments yesterday if we had a snow shower weekend locally. Yes, a little bit on Friday and Saturday, but I didn't really notice. I had purchased a bouquet on Friday afternoon, partly for the reason that the forecast suggested a return to wintery conditions (which didn't really come to pass) so I would instead spend time inside learning how to use my off-camera flash unit. These are a couple of the results of that exercise. I've primarily categorized these photographs as "botanical art", as I've used much more digital manipulation than I normally would and don't consider these images documentarian. As to what sort of manipulation, for those interested, I greatly increased the midtones using curves on both images. In the second image, I also burned a small portion of the flower to locally decrease the exposure.

I think these calla lilies are the cultivar 'Mango'. I called the florist yesterday, and the person answering the phone thought the name was 'Margo' (a non-existent cultivar, from what I can tell), so I concluded 'Mango' instead (and somewhat confirmed by the Zantedeschia photographs on the Pacific Bulb Society Wiki). Another point of evidence is the many commercial recommendations for its use as a cut flower in a search for "Zantedeschia 'Mango' cut flower".

Certainly, one of the elements that attracted me to this particular bouquet were the orange tones (the bouquet contains orange lilies and orange gerberas, as well). The Production and Landscape Horticulture program at Massey University in New Zealand has done some research into Zantedeschia pigmentation. As you might expect from a cultivar that is mainly orange with patches of red, it is concluded that 'Mango' contains a discontinuous layer of anthocyanins on a base of carotenoids.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 9:33 AM| Comments (8)

May 16, 2007

Fruit Medley

Botany Photo of the Day will have brief written entries on weekends, holidays and my vacations from April through September. I'm on vacation today. – Daniel

Thank you to codiferous@Flickr for sharing today's photograph (original | BPotD Flickr Group Pool).

codiferous names the fruits from his autumn Washington hike in the comments accompanying the original photograph.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (4)

March 14, 2007

Hydatella australis

For the first time, Botany Photo of the Day is going to be published twice in one day. The species in this stained glass art by Dr. Ruth Stockey of the University of Alberta will be revealed at 11 AM Vancouver time, along with an accompanying second BPotD entry.

Updated at 11:00 AM Vancouver local time: This stained glass piece by Dr. Stockey artfully illustrates a staminate inflorescence of Hydatella australis in the Hydatellaceae. It is adapted from an illustration of Hydatella australis by Engler, via www.plantsystematics.org. The Hydatellaceae was recently discovered to be near the root of the evolutionary tree of flowering plants by a UBC BGCPR-led research team. Previously, it was thought to be closely related to grasses. Textbooks will need to be rewritten! The paper detailing the discovery is published in the March 15, 2007 issue of Nature. See the subsequent BPotD entry for more details.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (8)

November 14, 2006

The Art of Elisabeth Feldman

Elisabeth Feldman, aka hurleygurley@Flickr submitted today's photograph via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool (original image). While I very much appreciate viewing photographs of plants without scientific names in the Flickr group pool, it generally makes it difficult for me to use them on BPotD (I need to ID them, which takes time I often don't have). On very few occasions, though, the requirement of a scientific name can be set aside when an exceptional body of work exists and I can post under the BPotD category Botanical Art. Elisabeth's photography and digital art easily meets the criterion of an exceptional body of work.

Of Elisabeth's nearly 1400 photographs on Flickr, many have a botanical theme. If you want to concentrate on her botanical work instead of discovering them by happy circumstance while browsing through all of her photographs, Elisabeth makes it very easy – she's organized her photographs into over a hundred photo sets. My personal favourite is this one: BW & Duotone Botanica, but there are many others with a botanical theme, including: Natural Scenes - Cream of the Stream, Autumn 2006, Nature Up Close - Cream of the Stream, Jes Flowers, Natural Details, everything but the flowers, fairyland, Fungi!, Liking Lichen, Macroscapes and blossfeldt inspired - a subset.

Instead of me trying to describe her art and failing, Elisabeth's approach to photography is better described by her in her Flickr bio or her Utata bio.

Many thank yous for contributing to BPotD, Elisabeth.

Photography resource link: While browsing through Elisabeth's work, I learned she was a member of Utata, “a collective of photographers, writers, and like-minded people who share a compelling interest in the arts”. Visit the site and overdose on creativity – my first impression was that it is one of those top-tier photography sites where one can spend a lot of time learning from the quality work of others. As one example, while reading through the articles, I came across Transcending Photography, an interview with Maureen Shaughnessy, who you will recognize (if you've a good memory) as a frequent BPotD contributor, MontanaRaven@Flickr.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (8)

October 8, 2006

Fungus Diversity

After noticing her set of fungus photographs on Flickr, I have to admit to hoping that Monika (half of monika&manfred@Flickr) would submit a few for use on BPotD. Lo and behold! Monika created a mosaic of her images and (without me asking) submitted it to the BPotD group pool on Flickr (original image) Thank you again, Monika!

If you're curious as to the names of some the fungi featured in the mosaic, you'll have to visit the original image on Flickr (it would take me a long time to reproduce all the links to the original photographs!). You will note that not all of the fungi are identified – fungi can be as difficult to identify as lichens, if not more so. Spend a little bit of time on the fungi, lichens and slime molds identification forum and you'll quickly learn what's necessary for sussing out the identity of a particular fungus: spore prints, substrate, mature (but not overly so) fruiting bodies, habitat and more.

Are you local to Vancouver? If so, you have access to a shortcut for IDing your fungus: the Vancouver Mycological Society is holding a mushroom show on Oct 22 from 11am to 4pm at VanDusen; in addition to visiting the displays and mushroom cooking demos, show attendees can bring in their mystery mushroom and VMS members will do their best at identifying the fungus.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 5:01 AM| Comments (3)

September 11, 2006

The Art of Christian Staebler

I'm delighted that Christian Staebler of France offered to share some of his scanner art work on BPotD. I only recall seeing something similar as a modern artwork once or twice in my life, so I think Christian's creations are quite unique and special. The first word that popped into my mind when I saw them was organic, quickly followed by medieval (as in medieval art with its skewed or flat perspectives and emphasis on symbols) and collage. Coincidentally, I was idly thinking to myself about how to flatten perspective in a photograph (thinking of “Medieval style” work) only a few days before Christian contacted me, but I can honestly say I would never have imagined solving my little mental challenge with Christian's method.

Christian has a series of these images which you can browse through on his site here. He is preparing to publish the scans in a book with one scan for each week of the year (and if you know of a publisher who might be interested, send him a note via his web site!). I also highly recommend browsing through the rest of Christian's web site (when you visit a section, use the small navigation bar at the bottom of the artwork to prompt the next piece) – plenty of photographs, drawings and illustrations. As he mentions in the introduction to the site, “The main thing here is Nature. All my works (especially my personal ones) are inhabited by Nature's richness and I hope the emotions show through the images…”

I think I should also mention that all plants and animals in his scanner work are found in his garden. Christian noted to me that he doesn't kill any animals for scanning purposes (he says the cats are killing enough) and the dead insects are found here and there.

If you are interested as to what is in the photographs, the first displays a shrew on Filipendula vulgaris (top left), Sonchus oleraceus (front in the middle), Vicia sepium (bottom left) and Centaurea scabiosa (top background). The second image contains wasps, bindweed (Convolvulus sp.?) and a conifer cone on a cultivated rose (Rosa sp.).

I, for one, hope that the book does get published someday, as I know I'll purchase one. Thank you, Christian.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 4:30 AM| Comments (10)

March 16, 2006

Asclepias speciosa

I'm on vacation, so only a short written accompaniment today. – Daniel

These two images are part of a larger series posted on Flickr by Maureen from Montana (aka MontanaRaven@Flickr). To see the whole set, visit Milkweed Mother. If you'd like to see these two images in particular, visit here and here. The images were submitted to BPotD via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool. Thanks again, Maureen (Maureen's weblog: raven's nest)!

I'm fairly certain this is Asclepias speciosa and not Asclepias syriaca – I'm basing my identification on the seed morphology and barely discernible pattern of venation on the leaves (you need to see the other photographs in the Flickr set for this information). It's very possible that I've misidentified it, though. The USDA Plants Database has more information and photographs: Asclepias speciosa.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (2)

February 18, 2006

Heptacodium miconioides

Heptacodium is monotypic, with only one species in the genus – seven-son flower. Unknown to Western science prior to 1907, it was encountered by E.H. Wilson during one of his expeditions to China. It remained unknown to Western horticulture until 73 years later when a group of scientists from the Arnold Arboretum and the US National Arboretum collected seed from a cultivated plant in Hangzhou Botanical Garden (the photograph is of a plant grown from one of those seeds). Stephen Spongberg, one of the members of the expedition, notes “...today there are undoubtedly more individual plants in cultivation in North America than in all of China” – you can read more of his recollections on Heptacodium from the expedition here.

The Kemper Center for Home Gardening has extensive photographs of the entire plant, including the flowers: Heptacodium miconioides.

To create this black-and-white, I used some of the Orton Imagery Techniques but did not digitally overexpose the image as suggested. Instead, I only did a 20% screen blend on the duplicate image. From the final image, I chose to use the red channel on its own for the b+w rendition.

Photography resource link: High Dynamic Time Range Images, a new photographic technique developed by local scientist Martin Krzywinski (discovered via The Luminous Landscape) – “Capturing the flow of time in a single frame”.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:39 AM| Comments (22)

January 21, 2006

Rhus glabra

The autumn colour of smooth sumac displayed via a scan, by Maureen from Montana, aka MontanaRaven@Flickr (BPotD Flickr Group Pool | original image). Many thanks again, Maureen.

Smooth sumac is distributed throughout the continental United States and overflows into both southern Canada and northern Mexico. In a photograph by Hugh Iltis on the Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium's page for Rhus glabra, you can see evidence of its ability to propagate vegetatively, allowing it to form a contiguous mass of clonal plants. The Virginia Tech Forestry Department also has a series of photographs for smooth sumac that are worth investigating.

Photography resource link: Levels of Abstraction – Are Your Photographs Real?, an essay by Michael Reichmann of The Luminous Landscape. “For some reason there are photographers who believe that photographs and the real world have more than a passing relationship to each other. When they see a photograph that has been in some visible way altered, modified or manipulated they cry "foul" – taking on the mantle of protectors of the sanctity of the inviolate image.”

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 4:49 AM| Comments (2)

January 8, 2006

Garrya ×issaquahensis 'Pat Ballard'

Today's images are a follow-up to the December 22, 2005 entry for Garrya ×issaquahensis 'Pat Ballard'. I thought I should have a photograph of the flowers in full bloom as an accompaniment. The previous entry has some links about the plant from both botanical and horticultural perspectives, so I won't add more for this entry.

Photography / art resource link: If you're curious about the second image, I've used what Darwin Wiggett has called “Orton Imagery”. For a step by step guide on how to accomplish this with both film and digital images, Darwin has written “Orton Imagery – A How To Guide for Photographers via Nature Photographers Online. You can also check the Orton in Orton Imagery here: Michael Orton Photography.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:08 AM| Comments (6)

December 1, 2005

Rosa 'Harwanna'

Please note that the Creative Commons license applied to most BPotD images does not apply to this image, so permission for use (beyond “fair use” or similar provisions) needs to be sought from the copyright holder.

This scan of the Jacqueline du Pré rose is a creation of local photographer and writer Alex Waterhouse-Hayward (disclosure: Alex is the husband of one of UBC's Friends of the Garden). Alex has an upcoming exhibit in Vancouver that will include a number of super high-quality prints of his botanical scans, which he wrote about in “Getting Rid of the Box” (image gallery).

Alex writes that his methods to achieve the scan are as follows: “I placed it on my Epson Perfection 1640SU flatbed scanner. The initial scans are at 100% and 1200ppi. I have a green garden bamboo stick clamped to a lamp on my desk and I clamp (clothespins) the rose on the other end. I swing the rose so it is as close to the scanner's glass without touching. I do the scanning in the evening as I have the scanner's top off. This way the scanner reads my white ceiling as black.”

If you'd like to see these and Alex's other works, he's passed along an open invitation to attend his exhibition (with a note warning that there will be some artistic nudity). Here are the details: “Exactly As We Were” – photographs by Alex Waterhouse-Hayward. Artist's reception on December 8 at 7pm, exhibition from December 9 through to December 24, 2005. Location: Vancouver Gallery of Photography @ The Art Center, 2060 Pine Street, Vancouver, BC. 604.731.5412.

You may have noticed that I've titled the entry Rosa 'Harwanna', yet also called it the Jacqueline du Pré rose (this is the name Alex used for it). In what can only be described as something analogous to a tragedy of the commons, this rose has three “names”: scientific (Rosa 'Harwanna'), common or vernacular ('Harwanna' rose), and a marketing or trademarked name (Jacqueline du Pré rose).

In brief (far too brief), when a new plant is bred, it can be patented so that royalties are paid to the plant breeder. However, patents eventually expire, and once they do, royalties no longer need to be paid and anyone can propagate the plant for sale. In response, some nurseries came up with the idea of assigning a trademark to the new plant, essentially a name that only they could associate (or license to others to use) with the plant for marketing purposes. As long as it is protected from becoming a generic name, this marketing name is permanent, and enables the nursery (and its licensees) to sell the plant under an attractive name, (such as Jacqueline du Pré rose) while everyone else (once the patent has expired) has to sell the plant under the less attractive 'Harwanna' rose or Rosa 'Harwanna'.

This is akin to the tragedy of the commons scenario, so to rewrite what is on the Wikipedia entry:

Positive : the owner of the trademark receives all of the proceeds from each additional trademarked name
Negative : the understanding and communication of “what plant is that?” is slightly degraded by each additional name

Crucially, the division of these components is unequal: the individual owner of the trademark gains all of the advantage, but the disadvantage is shared between all people using names to communicate about plants. Consequently, for an individual owner of a trademark weighing up these utilities, the rational course of action is to trademark the new plant. And another, and another. However, since all potential trademark owners reach the same conclusion, confusion and misunderstanding and frustration about names is the long-term fate. Nonetheless, the rational response for a potential owner of a trademark remains the same for each new hybrid, since the gain is always greater to a trademark owner than the distributed cost is.

Tony Avent, owner of Plant Delights Nursery, has written an opinionated piece on the matter entitled, “The Trademark Myth (When is a Name Not a Name)”, which is a highly recommended (and entertaining) read. And yes, I agree with Tony.

Photography resource link: for inspiration, the photography of Wynn Bullock (page 2). Please be forewarned that the site contains artistic nudity.

If I were ever forced to create a list of favourite photographs, “Sea Palms” would be on it, though the small size of the image on the site doesn't do it justice. It's worth seeking out a print version in a book to get a better idea of it, such as Bullock's “The Enchanted Landscape”. I have the book, and to get an idea of Bullock's philosophy, he accompanied “Sea Palms” with this quote: “I feel the time of a thing just as strongly as I see its form or color. Equally, the spaces between the limbs of a tree are as real as the limbs themselves. When I can photograph spaces filled with smoke, fog, or mist, the effect is one that greatly adds to the visual and emotional impact of the picture. The photographer is slowly becoming aware of, and more and more will extend, his search for greater visual expression in a reality that is not frozen in time or limited to the surface appearance of objects.”

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (6)

September 28, 2005

Flower Mandalas Project

I would like to share a story today. It concludes with a request.

Over two years ago, David Bookbinder registered on the UBC Botanical Garden forums and began to ask plant identification questions, so that he could label some artwork he was creating. He titled his first post, “Ignorant of plant names, need help learning”. Over the next few months and dozens of questions, it became apparent that David really was “starting from the beginning”. Despite discovering that he was asking about common garden plants, David persisted, and revealed some admirable qualities that are often shared by both artists and scientists: tenacity, dedication, and humility. (Kudos to the participants on the forums who helped David with generosity and kindness - you know who you are!)

At some point, I don't recall exactly when, David shared what he was doing with the plants that were being identified. Two of his eighty or so flower mandalas are today's Botany Photo(s) of the Day, Dying Pansy III and White Lily I-a.

In late 2004, David approached me with a request to support his artwork by creating a distinct area on the forums for him to display his botanical art. Critical to his art is commentary by people with their thoughts or feelings of what his art invokes, so he needed a way to receive and display public feedback. In December 2004, we set up the Flower Mandalas Project forum as one way of doing this. David also set up a weblog in April 2005 as another way for people to comment: Flower Mandalas Project Weblog.

That concluding request? Well, in David's own words:

“For the past two years, I've been taking pictures of flowers and manipulating the images to form mandalas. I'd like to begin to assemble these images into a book, and I'd like your help. Suggestions for a word that these mandala images evoke, a complementary quote, or some history or other information about the flower itself are most welcome.

When I began this project, I knew virtually nothing about flowers. Though I've been getting an education from folks here in terms of flower identification, I'm still pretty ignorant. What I have in mind is a book, probably of 52 images, with one page containing a flower mandala and the opposite page a quotation that complements the image. What I imagine is a collection of quotations, some of which relate to the flowers and their importance in literature, culture, art, and so on, while other quotations are simply thoughts or feelings the images evoke. I'm figuring that people who enjoy and understand flowers as well as the folks at this site would be of great help with either sort of quote.

I will include, in the book's foreword, how I came to the quotes I eventually end up using.

Thanks in advance -- David”

I personally would appreciate if you were able to take the time and comment on some of David's work. My advice is to set aside an hour or so some quiet weekend morning, with a hot beverage nearby.

Commenting is easy. On the Flower Mandalas Project forum, it's as simple as browsing through the threads and posting a reply - you don't have to register for the forums to post a reply, but we do moderate unregistered replies (so it might take a few hours to appear). Please note that there are four pages of threads - you can access the older ones by clicking on the page numbers in the upper right above the thread listings.

For the Flower Mandalas Project Weblog, click on Comments with the associated image, and post anonymously if need be.

Despite being on the Internet for ten years now, I still find it amazing that a relationship between an artist from Massachusetts and a small garden in Vancouver developed a few years ago because we opened ourselves up to conversation, and that the conversation continues to this day as you add your thoughts from wherever in the world you may be. Very Cluetrain.

Lastly, a small bit of legal. Today's images are not licensed via the Creative Commons License, so standard copyright stuff applies.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:57 AM| Comments (9)

July 6, 2005

Crocus sativus

“Though naturalized in several parts of Europe and Western Asia, the type form, or the Saffron of cultivation is not known to occur in a wild state...I group as varieties of Crocus sativus several Crocuses which previous writers deal with as separate species...Var. I. Orsinii. Of the wild forms, Crocus Orsinii of Parlatore, most nearly resembles the cultivated Saffron; indeed there is nothing to distinguish it from the type except that the pistil is shorter and the stigmata are more erect...”

So wrote George Maw in his “A Monograph of the Genus Crocus”, published in London, 1886 (What is a Monograph?). Despite his assertion that this particular variety of Crocus sativus from Italy be recognized separately as Crocus sativus var. olsinii, modern taxonomic treatments of this species lump it in with all the rest, so it is simply Crocus sativus (you can read more about crocuses here: The Pleasure of Crocus from The New Zealand Garden Journal).

This image is a photograph I took yesterday of the illustration in the book that accompanies the quoted text. There are eighty more illustrations, each a hand-coloured lithographed plate from the personal drawings of the author. Frankly, the book is a bibliophile's dream, made even moreso by the fact that our particular copy at UBC Botanical Garden contains this inscription: “To George Hornby Maw. From his affectionate father. Benthall, Kenley, Surrey. Oct 13, 1886.”

We were very fortunate to have this treasure donated to us a few years ago. Along with the time I spend on Botany Photo of the Day, my other duties include managing the garden's online databases. I would dearly love to make this book available online as part of the information we provide, but it's an expensive proposition. I'd appreciate hearing from you if you have suggestions of funding agencies that would support such a venture (in Canada).

Since I'm on the topic of funding: in the next few weeks, I hope to be able to share with you the results of our investment funding application that I mentioned in this BPOTD entry on John Davidson.

If you tried to access the site yesterday and had difficulties, I apologize. We had some server issues, which I've summarized here, if you're interested.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 AM| Comments (20)

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Botany Photo of the Day and all associated images are licensed under a Creative Commons License.