View allAll Photos Tagged Botanicus
The Hortus has a pleasant little plot with Barberrys from various provenances. Here in the main photo is Darwin's Barberry, discovered by great Charles Darwin in 1835 (see my description: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/17098687398/in/photoli...). It's a bit of an anomaly to see it in blossom in the present snowy weather.
The inset gives the fruit of Wintergreen Barberry. It wasn't scientifically described until the early 1900s. It hails from China. These colors certainly brighten a dark winter's day!
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.
The pretty vegetable garden of the Hortus is made sunny-colorful by beds of French Marigold, Tagetes patula. Olymp caught a Flower's Brightness just before the gloom set in. And Common Greenbottle Fly, Lucilia sericata, gleamed silkily in the Sun.
The ghastly wet weather and gusty winds drove me into the Glass Houses of the Hortus Botanicus. There's a good collection of plants from South Africa there.
Here's Bright Yellow Poker, Kniphofia linearifolia Baker (for another bright orange Kniphovia in the garden outdoors see my earlier www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/36150773033/in/photoli...). It's a foraging place for tiny black Ants, I think from the Tropics, perhaps hitchhiked here on traveling plants.
This wonderful grassy Wood-rush indeed gleams and sparkles purplish in the Sunlight. And there's probably some truth to the derivation of Luzula from a form of the Latin Lux, light. But nobody can narrow down the reason for its name more precisely. David Gledhill in his great The Names of Plants is quite right to say: Luzula is 'an ancient name of obscure meaning'.
There are at least four theories. The first is that this Wood-rush gleams in the moonlight like a glow worm, a Lucciola in Italian; another idea is that the flowers and their sheaths (ca. a mere 4-5 mm) dew-wet sparkle in the morning sunlight; third advocates claim the anthers and pistil look like lamp wicks, and hence the connection to light; and finally some have said that the pith of Wood-rush has been used to fashion exactly those candle or lamp wicks. I haven't been able to find any confirmation that Wood-rush pith was indeed used that way except for people claiming it. I'm also sceptical about the 'look-like-candle-wick' assertion. That leaves two explanations. It seems to me a bit far-fetched - having often seen glow worms myself - to put them into the equation; their light is far brighter than the gleam of Wood-rush in the moonlight. Which leaves as most likely the idea that our Plant in flower sparkles in the sunlight, as I myself could see this morning.
It wouldn't surprise me if Great Carolus Linnaeus had difficulty in pronouncing the English 'th'. His tongue like that of many non-native speakers was not subtle enough - hairy, as it were - for that sound. There is of course a story to why I think this...
It has everything to do with how Linnaeus first describes this pretty Common Fleabane, Pulicaria dysenterica. In the Flora suecica (1745) his description includes the interesting observation that our Fleabane saved the lives of many Russian soldiers in the Russo-Persian War (1722-1723). They used it as a medicine against dysentery. How exactly it's not said: it might have been through oral ingestion or else by way of its smoke; whatever the case, either the fleas (Pulex) or their effects - bacillary dysentery caused by transmitted Vibrio cholerae - were stymied in their run.
Whence Linnaeus's knowledge? Well, from one James Francis Edward Keith (1696-1758), a Scottish mercenary who fought for Prussians and Russians and anyone who'd have him. You get the picture: 'Keith' must've been a problem for Linnaeus to pronounce; perhaps he never met the man and only corresponded with him. In any case, his Flora suecica prints the General's name as 'Keit.
As far as I know, Keith did not take part in that Russo-Persian War; but he did play a heroic role in the Russo-Turkish War of 1741-1743. I wouldn't be surprised if his experience with our Pulicaria derives from that exercise and not from the earlier one. Possibly Linnaeus got that wrong as well, or otherwise Keith told him what he'd himself heard about the Persian expedition.
Here in the peaceful Hortus Botanicus this afternoon I saw this pretty Lasioglossum - Hairy- or Rough-Tongued Bee - calceatum on Bright Yellow Fleabane. Look at it's pretty reddish abdomen (and let's not be reminded of the less than savory sanguinary effects of dysentery).
Amsterdam is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands with a population of 872,680[12] within the city proper, 1,380,872 in the urban area and 2,410,960 in the metropolitan area. Found within the province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the "Venice of the North", attributed by the large number of canals which form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Amsterdam's name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin around a dam in the river Amstel. Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world in the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century and became the leading centre for finance and trade. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded, and many new neighbourhoods and suburbs were planned and built. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Sloten, annexed in 1921 by the municipality of Amsterdam, is the oldest part of the city, dating to the 9th century.
As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an alpha-world city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) study group. The city is also the cultural capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, including Philips, AkzoNobel, TomTom and ING. Also, many of the world's largest companies are based in Amsterdam or have established their European headquarters in the city, such as leading technology companies Uber, Netflix and Tesla. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and 12th globally on quality of living for environment and infrastructure by Mercer. The city was ranked 4th place globally as top tech hub in the Savills Tech Cities 2019 report (2nd in Europe), and 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Port of Amsterdam is the fifth largest in Europe. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the busiest airport in the Netherlands, and the third busiest in Europe. Famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt and Van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in the world. Amsterdam's main attractions include its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, the Concertgebouw, the Anne Frank House, the Scheepvaartmuseum, the Amsterdam Museum, the Heineken Experience, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, Natura Artis Magistra and Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam. They draw more than 5 million international visitors annually. The city is also well known for its nightlife and festival activity; several of its nightclubs (Melkweg, Paradiso) are among the world's most famous. It is also one of the world's most multicultural cities, with at least 177 nationalities represented
-Wikipedia
So how do we know the handsome frieze adorning the bottom of the first storey of this building depicts the cultivation, shipping and manufacturing of tobacco from Suriname? Well, the now empty niche originally had a statuette of a woman from Suriname and that to me indicates that the carvings depict the production and manufacture of tobacco from Suriname. What happened to that sculpture, I don't know.
The friezes are flanked left and right by so-called Green Men, male faces with leaf motifs. The left frieze (top inset) shows tobacco growers and pickers; then the carting off of the precious leaves to be shipped overseas. The shipment is eagerly awaited by those puttos spying the ship by telescope, the tobacco bales are unladen. The right frieze (bottom inset) shows the unpacking of the crates and barrels, the drying of the tobacco and then its manufacture presumably into cigarettes (there's a faint inscription on the far upper right: Cigarettes Ducke, although the building was commissioned by G.H. de Veer whose company made cigars) as the puttos are smoking.
The entire scene appears to have been designed by the sculpting studio established in 1883 by Pierre Elysée (Emil) Van den Bossche (1849-1921) and Willem Hubert Crevels (1855-1916). They're notable for designing parts of the so-called Gold State Coach used by the King for the annual ride to address Parliament in The Hague. There has recently been some clamor with regard to the racism of the depictions on the coach of colonial slavery.
The building itself was designed in 1891 by the Amsterdam architect Gerrit A. van Arkel (1858-1918); G.A. Zeeman is responsible for the same-styled building edging just at the right. After 1894 Van Arkel abandoned this neo-gothic/neo-renaissance style for Art Deco and Jugendstil. The edifice was built for a tobacco factory and adjoining tobacconist on the ground floor.
On the right is a photo of Tobacco flowering - even in the rain this morning - in the Hortus Botanicus of Amsterdam (see also my www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/22836771431/in/photoli...).
PS [2017.vii25] I searched around a bit, intrigued by the now missing statuette which has been described as a Javanese woman. I found a good b&w photo in De Architect, journal of Architectura et Amicitia, 3 (1893), and have pasted it as an inset, lower right. Clearly not Javanese, I think, but from Suriname. Why it was removed, I don't know. Perhaps it was considered too erotic for public space or racist.
Here's Lucilia caesar, Common Greenbottle, enjoying the Sun on a leaf of a scabious, Southern Devil's Bit or Succisella inflexa in the Hortus Botanicus of Amsterdam. If you look closely you can see the beauty even of Greenbottle flies; pretty silver cheeks, two shades of green, finely defined wings with sharply curved veins, handsome bristles and flexible legs... and then those hairy antennae! and multi-facetted eyes...
PS Sorry to those who faved two earlier photos I'd posted yesterday and the day before. I inadvertently deleted both including the descriptions by playing around with the camera on my phone...