Lifelike Botanical Reproductions

The Field Museum displays one of the largest collections of plant models in the world. Plant models are crafted to exacting detail using a process developed at the museum.

The process uses molds cast from actual plant specimens to create durable models. The models are then decorated in lifelike detail by artists for use in permanent exhibits.

Early twentieth century designers at the museum created the process using wax and plaster. Later molds used glass, plastics and other modern compounds to create models.

The collection of models at The Field Museum represents approximately one-third of all plant families.

A century of painstaking work has resulted in spectacular life-size dioramas of natural scenes recreated in faithful detail.

Link: The Botanical World in Replica

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 12:34 PM on November 15, 2004

Want to talk about this weblog entry? As of August 22, 2006, all new entries and most older entries are cross-posted to the UBC Botanical Garden Discussion Forums for discussion (you might need to use the search function to find the thread you are looking for).

This is an effort to reduce the amount of time spent dealing with spam (the forums are very good at stopping spam, the weblog commenting system is not so good).

Older entries already containing comments remain open for discussion.