Paphiopedilum
Paphiopedilum is genus of slipper orchid found in tropical Asia, from eastern…
Naming the Rainbow: Aurantiaco / Orange
Alas, the Latin name of the sweet orange that makes orange juice…
Vanishing Lakes: Lake Poopó
Lake Poopó is a saline lake in the Altiplano Mountains of Bolivia.…
Naming the Rainbow: Viola / Violet
In an etymological twist, the color violet takes its name from the violet…
Cattleya
Cattleya is a genus of 129 tropcial American orchids distributed from Costa…
NYBG 2024 New Species Review!
Every year, botanists describe hundreds of new plants, algae, fungi, and lichens…
Naming the Rainbow: Purpurea / Purple
The deep color purpura, Latin for purple, is commonly used to indicate…
Honoring the Quechua Language
What's in a name?Specimen Stories
Quechua is a family of indigenous languages spoken by the Quechua peoples of…
Dendrobium
With over 1,800 know species, Dendrobium is one of the 10 most…
Exploring the Bahamas with Lewis Jones Knight Brace
The Bahamas suffered its worst natural disaster recently as Hurricane Dorian, a…
Orchids in your Home!
Orchids are the largest plant family, with over 28,000 known species, and…
NYBG 2021 New Species Review!
Every year, botanists describe hundreds of new plant, fungal, and lichen species from…
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…
Naming the Rainbow
Botany uses Latin to describe and name plants, including the Latin words…
NYBG 2023 New Species Review!
Every year, botanists describe hundreds of new plants, algae, fungi, and lichens…
No Leaves, No Problem!
Although the vast majority of plants have leaves, not all plants do,…
Incised fumewort
A new invasive, this relative of the Bleeding Heart was recently found…
NYBG 2022 New Species Review!
Every year, botanists describe hundreds of new plant, algal, fungal, and lichen…
Reindeer Lichens
In this most wonderful time of the year, Christmas is naturally on…
Madagascar periwinkle
Commonly known as Madagascar periwinkle, this member of the dogbane family has…
Alice Eastwood
Alice Eastwood was a self-taught Canadian-American botanist. After graduating from high school…
Plant species named after Alice Eastwood
Several botanists have honored Eastwood's contributions to science by naming new plant…
Love Potions & Charms
Love potions and charms are mentioned countless times throughout literature; from ancient…
Mary Agnes Chase: Mentor, Activist, Botanist
Mary Agnes Chase was a self educated, determined, and influential botanist. Early…
The Three Sisters
Companion planting is the technique of growing plants closely together for mutual…
Pollination after dark
Although sometimes overlooked, bats are vital pollinators for many economically important species…
Iconic plants of the Amazon
The Amazon Rain Forest, Earth’s largest tropical rain forest, is an immense…
Maize & Teosinte
Maize (Zea mays), or corn, is a domesticated cereal crop native to…
Picnic in Central Park
Since its completion in 1876, Central Park has been a favorite destination…
Rice and its Wild Relatives
Humans have been farming rice for approximately 10,000 years. The two major…
Plant Inspired Innovations: Nepenthes and Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous…
Most plants absorb nutrients from the soil through their roots. Carnivorous plants…
Being Loved To Death – A Third of…
As the many plants to be digitized in the Endless Forms project,…
The Sacred Plant of Peru: The San Pedro…
For thousands of years, the indigenous people of Peruvian Amazon have used…
John Torrey’s Trip to California and Colorado, 1872
In July of 1872, John Torrey and his daughter Margaret departed on…
Astragalus osterhoutii, Osterhout milkvetch
Astragalus osterhoutii M. E. Jones (or Osterhout milkvetch) is an herbaceous plant known…
Rainbow of Plant Dyes
People have been dyeing their clothing with plants since ancient times. All around…
Extraordinary Oak Leaves
Cabinet of CuriositiesSpecimen Stories
Oak trees are a familiar sight to people all around the world,…
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…