View allAll Photos Tagged Botanicus
The Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam has a small but varied collection of plants from South Africa. Most are in the Temperate Greenhouse; this pretty, Platinum-White Pelargonium though is in the Arid House. It is said to be the widest-ranging of the Pelargoniums.
Perhaps it was first collected in South Africa by indefatigable Paul Hermann (1646-1695) who traveled widely with the Dutch East Indies Trading Company; from 1679 onwards he was the professor of botany at the University of Leiden and the director of the local botanical garden. In his catalogue of plants he describes it as growing there in 1687: 'Geranium africanum, alchemillae hirsuto folio, floribus albidis', as great Carolus Linnaeus has it with reference to Hermann. By 1693 it's already being cultivated by Jacob Bobart (1641-1719) in England. Its present scientific name was given it by Charles Louis l'Héritier de Brutelle (1746-1800) in 1789.
Interestingly, the Xhosa language of the Eastern Cape calls our Platinum-white Pelargonium by the name 'umtetebu'. That same word is used also for a totally different, vibrant orange or vermillion fllowering plant, well-known Cyrthantus contractus. I wonder how that can be...
Hortus Botanicus Haren
Handheld
Tonemapped
cropped
Portfolio ;
www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=aheroy&source=...
Darckr;
DSMP
(Dont Steal My Pictures)
© Copyright : You cannot use my photos !
© Copyright : Você não pode usar !
© Derecho de Autor : No se puede usar !
© Copyright : Sie dürfen es nicht kopieren !
© Copyright : Vous ne pouvez pas utiliser mes photos !
© Copyright: Δεν μπορείτε να χρησιμοποιήσετε τις φωτογραφίες μου χωρίς την άδειά μου!
© حقوق النشر محفوظة. لا يمكنك استخدام الصو
A gloomy and chilly late-spring morning in the Hortus Botanicus, but Nottingham Catchfly stood white against the dark soil. Two nights had brought forth in the pretty flower two consecutive rings of stamens, the male principles of flowers, with their pollen. The inset shows them still proud and straight with even a few pollen grains. But to prevent self-pollination our Flower's stamens shrivel on the third day, and it isn't until then that the female principle - those three styles with their purple stigmas appear; in the inset you can just see them peeping out, and they grow out amazingly fast.
The main photo shows the Masculine Shrivels and those proud Feminine Conduits to the flower's ovary. There its ovules will be fertilised by pollen from another flower.
Mid-February 1696 a plot was to have been executed to kill the King by Jacobites vehemently opposed to the Glorious Revolution (1688) which had brought the Dutch stadtholder and his wife to the English Throne as William III (1650-1702) and Mary II (1677-1694). The plans were discovered, Orange prevailed, and the would-be assassins were made to feel the force of the law.
Mary had sadly died in 1694, so she probably wouldn't have seen these pretty Orange Canary Bell-Flowers which are attested for the gardens of their palace, Hampton Court in 1696.
Today our Bell-Flower is much beloved by gardeners around the Globe. But as endemic wild plants on the Canary Islands they are endangered. Environmental measures are being taken to protect them. William of Orange survived that plot by six years; it is hoped these Bell-Flowers have a longer wild future.
They're hard to distinguish, Syrphus ribesii and Syrpus vitripennis. But judging from the color of the third femur - dark or even black - this is Glasswing, Lesser Banded Hoverfly. He's basking in the bright Spring Sun in the Hortus Botancius which isn't only a labeled plant collection but also a veritable Insect Zoo, challengingly unlabeled, of course..
This year the Hortus Botanicus has also planted a very pleasant vegetable garden. One of the plants brightening it even when the weather is the gloom of Spring is the golden yellow flower of Cucurbita pepo, Zucchini or Courgette. The vegetable hails from the Americas but gained general European kitchen favor in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Hortus Botanicus Leiden, nestled in the heart of the city, is a historical gem and a tranquil retreat. Established in 1590, it holds the distinction of being the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands, with a rich collection that has grown over four centuries. Visitors can explore the Orangery from 1744, tropical greenhouses from 1938, and a winter garden from 2000, each offering a unique glimpse into the plant kingdom. The garden's commitment to education and conservation is evident through its diverse flora, including exotic species and historical plants like the old Tuliptree from 1716 and the Ginkgo from 1785. It's a place where nature's beauty is preserved and celebrated, providing a serene escape from the bustling city life.
It's hardly the kind of weather for licking ice-sticks. Though it's bright here in Amsterdam, the wind is very cold. Haven't seen a lot of Hoverflies around yet this Spring...
But here's - I think - tiny Platycheirus clypeatus, but correct me please if you think I'm wrong (first I thought: Melanostoma mellinum). He's feasting on the pollen of a Tulip Cultivar of 2002, Tulipa kaufmanniana 'Ice Stick' in the Hortus Botanicus of Amsterdam.
Ah! Salsifiy! I was reminded of its exquisite taste this morning as I was ambling through the pleasant Botanical Garden of Amsterdam and stopped to admire these yellows, verging on orange marmalades.
Salsify's long black, tuberous, carrot-like roots don't mature until the Autumn; and then it's a bit of a sticky job to divest them of their black skin (best to do this with the roots under water). This delicacy had been grown in Spain already in the sixteenth century and in much of Europe by the mid-seventeenth century. It was seen in Syria by the first post-medieval scientific traveller, botanist and anthropologist to visit the Near and Middle East. Leonhard Rauwolff's (1535-1596) trip (1573-1596) was financed by family members in the hope that he would bring back financially viable botanical products to Germany. He kept a notebook of his journey from Marseilles-Tripoli in Lebanon-Aleppo-Baghdad-Mosul-Jerusalem and back to Europe, and he published his findings and observations once he was safely back home.
In the marketplace of Aleppo Rauwolff saw Salsify - called by him Eppich (a name also used for other plants) - and he notes the local name as: Corton (which is remarkably close to 'Scorzonera'); it's eaten with salt and pepper. He says it's cultivated in that area and especially in the Lebanese mountains near 'Cedars of the Lebanon'. In Europe it went by the scientific name Scorzonera, apparently because it could be used to treat snakebites (a parallel to Serpentaria in Classical Antiquity, of course).
Much as I enjoy Salsify, I've never taken a bite of its leaves or flowers. But our Marmalade Hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus, seems about to enjoy a Taste of its Pollen.