Creepy Cultivars
The word "cultivar" is a blend of the words "cultivated" and "variety".…
Life in Slot Canyons
Cabinet of CuriositiesExpeditions
Slot canyons are deep channels eroded into rock. They are often ten…
Oro City – A Colorado Ghost Town
Oro City was a gold placer (stream-bed) mining town in Colorado, founded…
Eight Days of Oil
Oil has a special significance for those who celebrate Hanukkah. This Jewish…
Elizabeth Britton and the Curly-Grass Fern
Specimen StoriesWomen in Science
Tucked away in an office drawer of NYBG’s Fern Curator, Robbin Moran,…
Hidden Women Botanists - Mrs. Herbert Huntington Smith
The NYBG herbarium has over two thousand specimens that are labeled as collected…
Kate Furbish and the Flora of Maine
Catherine Furbish was born in 1834 in Exeter, New Hampshire. From an…
Lichenicolous Fungi
Composed of different species each playing a different role, a lichen can…
Ellen Hutchins - Ireland's First Female Botanist
Between 1805 and 1813, in Ballylickey on the shores of Bantry Bay,…
Kauai Digit Fern
The Kauai Digit Fern, or Doryopteris angelica, is a rare fern found in the forest on…
Resurrecting from the Dead
I remember coming across Selaginella lepidophylla while imaging herbarium specimens for the…
The Many Colors of the Star Cloak Fern
While imaging herbarium specimens, I was struck by the unusual colors of…
The Atomic Specimen
Working with specimens from New Mexico for the Southern Rocky Mountain Digitization…
Heard it through the grapevine
Vitis is the genus of one of the world’s favorite horticultural crop:…
Catnip: A Felicitous Herb
Focus on ScienceWhat's in a name?
Calling all cat lovers! As I was digitizing plants for the Southern…
Beware! Stranglers on the Loose!
Focus on ScienceCabinet of Curiosities
Meet the genus Cuscuta, or as I like to refer to them,…
Celebrating Pride with Flowers
As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots during…
Virtual Road Trip: Southern Wildflowers
Many Americans are currently practicing social distancing and self-quarantine as a way…
Sister Mary Clare Metz: Faith and Flora
While digitizing specimens for the Texas and Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria,…
The Biltmore Herbarium: Botany and America’s Largest Home
Biltmore, a Gilded Era mansion in Asheville, North Carolina, is America’s largest…
Fire Island: Preserving a Unique Ecological & Cultural…
On a geological time scale, barrier islands are by definition impermanent, ever-changing,…
Learning from Extinct Plants
Specimen StoriesFocus on Science
From the woolly mammoth to the passenger pigeon, many extinct species owe…
Ascension Island: Volcanoes, Castaways, and Darwin’s Manmade Forest
One million years ago, a volcano broke the surface in the middle…
Black Botany: The Nature of Black Experience
Black Botany: The Nature of Black Experience seeks to acknowledge the complex…
Biocrusts of Cold Drylands
The default image that comes to mind when thinking of deserts is…
Biocrusts in Disturbed Areas
Our crusty companions play many imperative restoration roles in disturbed habitats, as…
Biocrusts of Hot Drylands
Hot deserts are found on all continents except Antarctica and Europe. In…
Riclef Grolle
Riclef Grolle (1934 – 2004) was among the most dedicated and knowledgeable…
Sarah “Sadie” Frances Price
Sarah “Sadie” Frances Price (1849-1903) was one of Kentucky’s most esteemed botanical…
Caroline Coventry Haynes
Caroline Coventry Haynes (1858-1951) is best known for her significant contributions to…
Women in Cryptogamic Botany
As scientific perspectives of the Enlightenment movement fostered enthusiasm surrounding the acquisition…
Trust in the Crust
earth /ˈərth/noun1) the planet on which we live; the world2) the substance…
Josephine Elizabeth Tilden
Josephine Elizabeth Tilden (1869-1957) was one of few women allowed a faculty…
Elke Mackenzie (I.M. Lamb)
The work and dedication of Elke Mackenzie (1911-1990) is critical to our…
Clara Eaton Cummings
Clara E. Cummings (1855-1906) was a cryptogamic botanist who focused primarily on…
Gertrude Simmons Burlingham
Gertrude Simmons Burlingham (1872-1952) was an American mycologist who specialized in the…
Roses are Red, Sometimes Green, but Always the…
Roses are one of the world’s most beloved blooms, with millions of…
The Tecate Cypress: What a Tangled Web
While working as a digitization intern, one of the most pleasing features…
"Posy" Dodge, an Exemplary Citizen Scientist
In an age of growing efforts to engage the public in research…
Elizabeth Knight Britton's Expeditions and Honors
When the Garden began a series of expeditions to the Caribbean during…
Elizabeth Knight Britton's Childhood in Cuba
Elizabeth Knight Britton’s grandfather James Knight owned a sugar plantation and a…