The Saguaro Cactus: Emblematic Plant of the American…
Specimen StoriesWhat's in a name?
With its tall, columnar shape and upward-bending branches, the cactus we know…
Milestones
Since its inception NYBG has focused on building an extensive and valuable herbarium…
John Torrey
John Torrey (1796-1873) is considered one of the most influential American botanists…
The Lackluster Major William Rich
Major William Rich was selected to be the botanist on the U. S.…
An Unrequited Botanical Love Story
The love of botany is responsible for both fostering and hindering this…
The Cactaceae
The Cactaceae was a publication written by the founder of NYBG, Nathaniel Lord Britton…
Snap shot of the Rock Garden, circa 1942
NYBG's Rock Garden in the spring is full of treasures that have been documented…
Flora Borinqueña
In February 1906, Nathaniel and Elizabeth Britton, founders of The New York…
David Hosack's Elgin Botanic Garden
Elgin Botanic Garden was the first public botanical garden in the United…
Where the Gold was First Discovered
Cabinet of CuriositiesExpeditions
Herbarium specimens have been collected at poignant points in history. Major William Rich was…
Augustine Henry
Augustine Henry was one of the first and most prolific western botanists to collect in Central China,…
Plants of Sítio Roberto Burle Marx
Roberto Burle Marx was an artist, a landscape architect and an early…
Addisonia
Addisonia: Colored Illustrations and Popular Descriptions of Plants was a journal published by…
Otto Kuntze
Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze was a german botanist who made expeditions to every…
Mary Emily Eaton
Mary Emily Eaton was an accomplished natural history illustrator employed at the…
The Brittons: Partners in Life and Botany
The establishment of The New York Botanical Garden was the result of…
Jeanne Baret
CollectorsWomen in ScienceExpeditions
Jeanne Baret was the first woman ever to circumnavigate the globe, but…
Discovering a Darwin Collection
Cabinet of CuriositiesSpecimen Stories
In the museum world, there's a sort of joke that you never…
Ellen's Algae
See more of Ellen Hutchin's beautifully detailed marine algae collections.
Ellen's Types
Among many of the interesting things Ellen Hutchins collected were collections that…
Ellen's Illustrations
We know Ellen Hutchins produced hundreds of detailed watercolors of marine algae. Some…
Mary Treat
Those who have read Barbara Kingsolver's newest novel, Unsheltered, will be familiar with the…
Britton's Chara
In the United States, there is no formal regulation for the endangered…
Journey of the US Exploring Expedition (1838-1842)
One of the earliest and most impactful scientific expeditions led by the…
Newspaper time capsule: B. Maguire 23559
A trip to the field isn't always necessary to describe a new…
Damaged by enemy action
Herbarium specimens are windows into the past and can help us answer…
J. K. Small's exploration in Southern Florida, 1915
John Kunkel Small, botanist and herbarium curator at the the New York Botanical…
John Kunkel Small
John Kunkel Small (1869-1938) was a taxonomist and botanical explorer, who specialized…
John Muir
John Muir (1838–1914) was an influential naturalist and conservationist, and co-founder of the…
Typical: Christmas in the clouds
Bassett Maguire (1904–1991), a botanist who spent the majority of his career…
Salix loan to Japan
Botany is a collaborative science that relies on sharing data and specimens…
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver (1860s–1943) was an inventor, teacher, botanist, and mycologist (a…
Women's Scientific Empowerment
Natural history was immensely popular in the Victorian era, but women were…
Good grief, Charles Geyer
Charles (Karl) A. Geyer was a pioneer botanical collector of the Northwestern…