Algerian Brightness. Linaria pinifolia, Pineneedle Toadflax, and a Tree Bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
On the behalf of king Louis XVI of France, Jean Louis Marie Poiret (1755-1834), then still a catholic clergyman, traveled in Algeria and Tunisia on a voyage of exploration 1785-1786. He published his findings still an abbé in 1789, the year of the French Revolution. The king, of course, was deposed and Poiret left the church to become a well-known naturalist. In his Voyage he described many of his findings in northern Africa, notably of plants. He waxes particularly eloquent over our flower which he knew as Antirrhinum pinifolium: 'Ceste plante se fait remarquer par sa beauté & sa grandeur'. Indeed! In the Hortus here it was today being visited by a Tree Bumblebee. The inset gives a view of how you usually see this Linaria from above.
Algerian Brightness. Linaria pinifolia, Pineneedle Toadflax, and a Tree Bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
On the behalf of king Louis XVI of France, Jean Louis Marie Poiret (1755-1834), then still a catholic clergyman, traveled in Algeria and Tunisia on a voyage of exploration 1785-1786. He published his findings still an abbé in 1789, the year of the French Revolution. The king, of course, was deposed and Poiret left the church to become a well-known naturalist. In his Voyage he described many of his findings in northern Africa, notably of plants. He waxes particularly eloquent over our flower which he knew as Antirrhinum pinifolium: 'Ceste plante se fait remarquer par sa beauté & sa grandeur'. Indeed! In the Hortus here it was today being visited by a Tree Bumblebee. The inset gives a view of how you usually see this Linaria from above.