Dra. Lidia Itatí Ferraro (1951-)
Dr. Lidia Itatí Ferraro, born in 1951, is an accomplished Argentine lichenologist.…
Ynés E. J. Mexia (1870-1938)
A social worker and Sierra Club member at the time, Ynés Mexia…
Dr. Juan Larraín (1979-)
Juan Larraín is a self-taught bryologist who focuses on bryophyte diversity in…
Celebrating Cryptogamic Botanists from Latin America
The Caribbean, Central America, and South America have long been geographical focal…
Bean-boozled
Cosmopolitan has a long-standing journalistic reputation for getting straight to the heart…
NAACP member J. E. Spingarn and the Clematis…
Joel Elias Spingarn (May 17, 1875 - July 26, 1939) was a…
The Ames–Britton Connection
Specimen StoriesWomen in Science
Blanche Ames Ames (February 18, 1878 – March 2, 1969) was not…
Botanical Ragtime
Artists find inspiration from an infinite number of sources, and many artists…
Pilostyles
Upon first glance, this mounted specimen may seem nothing more than an…
Black Pepper: King of Spices
It’s hard to imagine entering a diner, sitting down on the shiny…
Isabella Aiona Abbott: First Lady of Limu
Before Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott became the first Native Hawaiian woman to…
Ancestral Achiote
In many Caribbean and Latin American households, most of us have known…
A Vanilla Voyage: Exploring the Spice's Legacy in…
Vanilla planifolia, commonly known as vanilla, is one of the most instantly…
Sweetsop vs. Soursop: A Great Distinction
The Annonaceae family is the largest plant family within the Magnoliales. The…
Eggplant
The eggplant, also known as aubergine (Solanum melongena), has no official date…
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…
The Case for Coevolution
Focus on ScienceCabinet of Curiosities
Charles Darwin’s keen observations of the natural world famously yielded predictions about…
Exploring the Art of Paper Making
From its use of local and natural materials, the methods and artistry…
Pitcher plants: so nice, they evolved thrice!
Pitcher plants are famous (or perhaps infamous) for their carnivorous structures that…
Geraldine Watson: Botanist and Activist of Texas’s Big…
Geraldine Watson, born in Louisiana in 1925, never planned to become a…
Bassett and Celia Maguire: A Legacy in Leaves…
Bassett Maguire, born in 1904 in Alabama, rose from a curious young…
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…
Banded Mottlegill
This mushroom was called 'weed Panaeolus' because it would frequently grow as…
Lavender
Lavender has been used in traditional medicine for centuries for its soothing…