Inside Blue. Honeybee, Apis mellifera, on Pentaglottis sempervirens, Green Alkanet, Palm- and Fern House, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The danger of Covid-19 has made it necessary also to close the Hortus Botanicus here in Amsterdam to the public. You can walk around it, though, and admire some of the buildings. One of them set on the canal is (inset) the marvellous Palm- and Fern House (1912) designed by Johan Melchior van der Mey (Meij) (1878-1949), founder of the expressionist Amsterdam School of architecture. Among many other projects is also his great Scheepvaarthuis (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/20819087566/in/photoli...).
Famous Hugo de Vries (1848-1935), botanist, biologist and geneticist, director of the Hortus from 1876, threatened to leave if the town authorities didn't finance the restructuring of the rather dilapidated garden. Given his prominence and fame, he won out and must have taken great pleasure in the new, handsome building just up the street from where he lived. For De Vries see also my: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/49034815677/in/photoli....
The Hortus is enclosed within a heavy grating, but you can see some of the plants and even reach in to take a photo or two. Here's a Honeybee on Green Alkanet inside blue, so to speak, and inside the Garden. Note the pale green color of Alkanet's pollen (gathered in Bee's corbicula; and you can clearly see the hairs that give that pollen basket its structure).
Inside Blue. Honeybee, Apis mellifera, on Pentaglottis sempervirens, Green Alkanet, Palm- and Fern House, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The danger of Covid-19 has made it necessary also to close the Hortus Botanicus here in Amsterdam to the public. You can walk around it, though, and admire some of the buildings. One of them set on the canal is (inset) the marvellous Palm- and Fern House (1912) designed by Johan Melchior van der Mey (Meij) (1878-1949), founder of the expressionist Amsterdam School of architecture. Among many other projects is also his great Scheepvaarthuis (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/20819087566/in/photoli...).
Famous Hugo de Vries (1848-1935), botanist, biologist and geneticist, director of the Hortus from 1876, threatened to leave if the town authorities didn't finance the restructuring of the rather dilapidated garden. Given his prominence and fame, he won out and must have taken great pleasure in the new, handsome building just up the street from where he lived. For De Vries see also my: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/49034815677/in/photoli....
The Hortus is enclosed within a heavy grating, but you can see some of the plants and even reach in to take a photo or two. Here's a Honeybee on Green Alkanet inside blue, so to speak, and inside the Garden. Note the pale green color of Alkanet's pollen (gathered in Bee's corbicula; and you can clearly see the hairs that give that pollen basket its structure).