Clusia venusta: A Jewel of the Tropics
Clusia venusta, a species of the Clusiaceae family, is native to the…
Clusia minor: The Gem of the Caribbean Forests
Clusia minor is a small tree or shrub native to the Caribbean…
Clusia rosea: The Resilient Beauty of the Tropics
Clusia rosea, a member of the Clusiaceae family, is mostly found in…
Geraldine Watson: Botanist and Activist of Texas’s Big…
Geraldine Watson, born in Louisiana in 1925, never planned to become a…
Pitcher plants: so nice, they evolved thrice!
Pitcher plants are famous (or perhaps infamous) for their carnivorous structures that…
Orchids of Mexico!
Mexico is a 'mega' biodiversity hotspot, and it is particularly rich in…
Epidendrum of Mexico!
Epidendrum is one of the largest of all plant genera in addition to…
Spiranthinae of Mexico!
The orchid family is so diverse, researchers find it helpful to give…
Stanhopea of Mexico!
Stanhopea are amongst the most impressive and beautiful of all orchids, with…
Pleurothallid orchids of Mexico!
The Pleurothallid orchids are a clade of related genera, meaning they are…
Orchids Named for Mexico!
Focus on ScienceWhat's in a name?
Scientific names for plants can indicate a number of different attributes, including…
Prosthechea of Mexico!
Prosthechea is a large tropcial American genus of 125 known species, occuring…
NYBG 2024 New Species Review!
Every year, botanists describe hundreds of new plants, algae, fungi, and lichens…
Honoring the Quechua Language
What's in a name?Specimen Stories
Quechua is a family of indigenous languages spoken by the Quechua peoples of…
The Case for Coevolution
Focus on ScienceCabinet of Curiosities
Charles Darwin’s keen observations of the natural world famously yielded predictions about…
Cultivation and Ecology of Dates
The date palm requires ample sunlight, high temperatures (though it can survive…
The Nourishing Power of Dates
As the Islamic month of fasting – Ramadan – comes to a…
Date Syrup Jallab
There are many recipes featuring dates and their byproducts across many cultures,…
Ethnobotanical Uses of Dates
Although eating the fruit may be the most well-known use of the…
NYBG 2023 New Species Review!
Every year, botanists describe hundreds of new plants, algae, fungi, and lichens…
A Vanilla Voyage: Exploring the Spice's Legacy in…
Vanilla planifolia, commonly known as vanilla, is one of the most instantly…
Queer Love Lives in Hyacinth
The flowering period of hyacinth may have passed, but their celebration continues…
Botany & Birds: Taking Flight
The exhibition on now at The New York Botanical Garden, is the work of…
Fruits of Rosaceae
Flowering plants differ from all other plants by producing seeds within fruits;…
Pilostyles
Upon first glance, this mounted specimen may seem nothing more than an…
Botanical Ragtime
Artists find inspiration from an infinite number of sources, and many artists…
NAACP member J. E. Spingarn and the Clematis…
Joel Elias Spingarn (May 17, 1875 - July 26, 1939) was a…
Black Pepper: King of Spices
It’s hard to imagine entering a diner, sitting down on the shiny…
Vanda
Vanda is a tropcial Asian and Australian orchid genus with 85 known…
Miltonia
Miltonia consists of 20 naturally occuring species and hybrids that are entirely…
Paphiopedilum
Paphiopedilum is genus of slipper orchid found in tropical Asia, from eastern…
Cattleya
Cattleya is a genus of 129 tropcial American orchids distributed from Costa…
Dendrobium
With over 1,800 know species, Dendrobium is one of the 10 most…
Orchids in your Home!
Orchids are the largest plant family, with over 28,000 known species, and…
NYBG 2022 New Species Review!
Every year, botanists describe hundreds of new plant, algal, fungal, and lichen…
Remembrances of Yours
There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies,that’s…
Be All My Sins Remembered
Up until this point, Ophelia has lived a rather charmed life –…
Ophelia’s Flowers
Shakespeare never visited the crown prince Hamlet’s home on the east coast of…
Ginger and Chiya
Ginger, also known as Zingiber officinale is native to tropical climates like…
Aloe: The Plant of Many Wonders
Aloe vera is one of the over 300 species of Aloe belonging…
Curious Indigo
Indigo: a profound shade of blue sourced from nature’s color palette; A…
The Herbarium of Endangerment: Cycas riuminiana
Cycads carry significance as “living fossils,” existing in a way that is…
The Herbarium of Endangerment: Eugenia koolauensis
Many Latin plant names feature the intersection of imperial European botany and…
The Herbarium of Endangerment: Tahina spectabilis
This more “newly discovered” plant was given its Latin name in 2008,…
The Herbarium of Endangerment: A Digital Display of…
“Behind all scientific names are the stories of their objects, of the…
The Herbarium of Endangerment: Vanilla planifolia
One may be most familiar with vanilla’s taste and aroma. The fruit…
Royal Symbols
Plants have been employed as royal symbols through time and across cultures.…
A World of Botanical Illustrations: Japanese plants referenced…
For decades, Studio Ghibli Inc. has been revered as one of the…
Ethel Zoe Bailey
Women in ScienceFocus on Science
Ethel Zoe Bailey (1889–1983), was the first curator of the Bailey Hortorium…
Okra’s journey to the United States
Many culinary delights that Americans enjoy today, especially in the Southern United…
A Botanical Tour of Harlem
The New York City neighborhood of Harlem is a center for Black…
NYBG 2021 New Species Review!
Every year, botanists describe hundreds of new plant, fungal, and lichen species from…
El Yunque
Set foot in El Yunque, the beautiful tropical rain forest in eastern Puerto…
Vampires Among Us: The Ghost Pipe Plant
Did you know that some plants lack chlorophyll? Often confused for a…
Leaves of three, let it be!
If you enjoy spending time outdoors, you surely have heard the age-old…
Fire Island: Preserving a Unique Ecological & Cultural…
On a geological time scale, barrier islands are by definition impermanent, ever-changing,…
Meet Spiranthes bightensis: A New Orchid in Our…
Focus on ScienceSpecimen Stories
Botanists have probably described and named 99% of the plants native to…