Bioremediation
Bioremediation is the use of living organisms to remove contamination from the…
Understanding Interactions: Taking Botany Out of Isolation
For centuries we have viewed plants and fungi in isolation. Tried to…
Alpine Invaders
Climate Change can negatively impact Alpine regions by making them more susceptible…
Alpine Adaptation: Stay Shaggy!
Temperatures may be low but sun-exposure is extremely intense at high-elevations due…
Alpine Adaptation: Red is the New Black
Hairs are one way to deflect damaging UV radiation while locking in…
Alpine Meadows
Alpine meadows exist where soils have deepened and matured through centuries of…
Climate Change & Alpine Retreat
Temperature and moisture availability are factors which influence the distribution patterns of…
Treeline Expansion
The absence of trees at high-elevations both defines Alpine zones and is…
"Citizen Scientists" Support Alpine Research!
Increases in temperature and changes to the availability of moisture and snow…
Alpine Adaptation: Dig-Down & Stand Your Ground
Extreme conditions at high-elevations tend to impede the establishment of annual plants…
Alpine Refugia
Mountaintops have served as unlikely shelter for populations of cold-adapted species throughout…
Alpine Adaptation: Hold Tight & Take It Slow
These prototypical "cushion plants" are extreme alpine specialists. Short and dense branching…
Extreme Alpine Plants
Cabinet of CuriositiesExpeditions
Few places on the land's surface present weather conditions that are more…
Fragile Alpine Ecosystems
Relatively few organisms are sufficiently adapted to the harsh conditions of Alpine…
Alpine Adaptation: Duck and Cover
Leaves and flowering stems flattened to the ground and outwardly spreading from…
Alpine Adaptation: Solid As A Rock
Lichens are the primary colonizers of new habitat in alpine regions. Unlike…
Journey of the US Exploring Expedition (1838-1842)
One of the earliest and most impactful scientific expeditions led by the…
Old Man's Beard: A Medicinal Lichen
Usnea is a genus of lichen, commonly known as Old Man’s Beard. …
Leaves of three, let it be!
If you enjoy spending time outdoors, you surely have heard the age-old…
Okra’s journey to the United States
Many culinary delights that Americans enjoy today, especially in the Southern United…
Vampires Among Us: The Ghost Pipe Plant
Did you know that some plants lack chlorophyll? Often confused for a…
Wild Cinnamon
Although not related to true cinnamon, Cinnamodendron corticosum is a similar spice tree.…
Exploring the Conservation Status of Jamaican Root Tonic…
Jamaican root tonics are fermented beverages composed of roots, bark, and other…
Label Appreciation: Favorites
Labels are as important to a herbarium specimen as the plant, alga, or…
Typical: Gymnopilus pallidus
Some characters are altered in the drying process used to create herbarium specimens.…
Attractive Frances Baker
This specimen arrived as part of an exchange from another herbarium, wrapped…
Typical: Double type
A herbarium's version of a double rainbow — a double type specimen.…
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…
Typical: Astragalus cusickii var. packardiae
Covered in flower dissection illustrations by Rupert Barneby — we should all…
Becoming a mountain woman
Marie Mooar spent a lot of time in the wilds of western…
J. K. Small's exploration in Southern Florida, 1915
John Kunkel Small, botanist and herbarium curator at the the New York Botanical…
Traveling Plants: Plants on the move
Plants might not be able to move the way animals do, but…
Traveling Plants: People lend a hand
Plants have lots of ways they can move and distribute their propagules…
Tumbleweeds
Tumbleweeds aren’t restricted to one species or plant family, but are an…