Darwin and the Art of Botany

Darwin and the Art of Botany PDF Author: James T. Costa
Publisher: Timber Press
ISBN: 1643263218
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Uncover Darwin’s most important writings about plants with this important collection featuring expert interpretations and rare illustrations. Charles Darwin is best known for his work on the evolution of animals, but in fact a large part of his contribution to the natural sciences is focused on plants. His observations are crucial to our modern understanding of everything from the amazing pollination process of orchids to the way that vines climb. Darwin and the Art of Botany collects writings from six often overlooked texts devoted entirely to plants, and pairs each excerpt with beautiful botanical art from the library at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, creating a gorgeously illustrated volume that never existed in Darwin's own lifetime, and hasn't since. Evolutionary botanist and science historian James Costa brings his expertise to each entry, situating Darwin's words in the context of the knowledge and research of the time. The result is a new way of visualizing Darwin's work, and a greater understanding of the ways he's shaped our world.

Darwin's Most Wonderful Plants

Darwin's Most Wonderful Plants PDF Author: Ken Thompson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022667570X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
For many people, the story of Charles Darwin goes like this: he ventured to the Galapagos Islands on the Beagle, was inspired by the biodiversity of the birds he saw there, and immediately returned home to write his theory of evolution. But this simplified narrative is inaccurate and lacking: it leaves out a major part of Darwin’s legacy. He published On the Origin of Species nearly thirty years after his voyages. And much of his life was spent experimenting with and observing plants. Darwin was a brilliant and revolutionary botanist whose observations and theories were far ahead of his time. With Darwin’s Most Wonderful Plants, biologist and gardening expert Ken Thompson restores this important aspect of Darwin’s biography while also delighting in the botanical world that captivated the famous scientist. Thompson traces how well Darwin’s discoveries have held up, revealing that many are remarkably long-lasting. Some findings are only now being confirmed and extended by high-tech modern research, while some have been corrected through recent analysis. We learn from Thompson how Darwin used plants to shape his most famous theory and then later how he used that theory to further push the boundaries of botanical knowledge. We also get to look over Darwin’s shoulder as he labors, learning more about his approach to research and his astonishing capacity for hard work. Darwin’s genius was to see the wonder and the significance in the ordinary and mundane, in the things that most people wouldn’t look at twice. Both Thompson and Darwin share a love for our most wonderful plants and the remarkable secrets they can unlock. This book will instill that same joy in casual gardeners and botany aficionados alike.

The Art of Plant Evolution

The Art of Plant Evolution PDF Author: W. John Kress
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Book published on the occasion of exhibition at Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in 2009.

Botanical Illustration

Botanical Illustration PDF Author: Noel H. Holmgren
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 94

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Book Description


A New Flowering

A New Flowering PDF Author: Shirley Sherwood
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781854442062
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This major exhibition brings together the greatest treasures of botanical art including over 80 botanical illustrations, both ancient and modern, spanning 1000 years.

Botanical Revelation

Botanical Revelation PDF Author: David J. Mabberley
Publisher: NewSouth
ISBN: 9781742236476
Category : Botanical artists
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"The Peter Crossing collection"--Title page.

Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects

Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects PDF Author: Charles Darwin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fertilization of plants by insects
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description


Darwin's Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory

Darwin's Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory PDF Author: James T. Costa
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393249158
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
“If you’ve ever fantasized walking and conversing with the great scientist on the subjects that consumed him, and now wish to add the fullness of reality, read this book.” —Edward O. Wilson, author of Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life James T. Costa takes readers on a journey from Darwin’s childhood through his voyage on the HMS Beagle, where his ideas on evolution began, and on to Down House, his bustling home of forty years. Using his garden and greenhouse, the surrounding meadows and woodlands, and even the cellar and hallways of his home-turned-field-station, Darwin tested ideas of his landmark theory of evolution through an astonishing array of experiments without using specialized equipment. From those results, he plumbed the laws of nature and drew evidence for the revolutionary arguments of On the Origin of Species and other watershed works. This unique perspective introduces us to an enthusiastic correspondent, collaborator, and, especially, an incorrigible observer and experimenter. And it includes eighteen experiments for home, school, or garden. Finalist for the 2018 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prizes for Excellence in Science Books.

A Botanist's Vocabulary

A Botanist's Vocabulary PDF Author: Susan K. Pell
Publisher: Timber Press
ISBN: 1604695633
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
For anyone looking for a deeper appreciation of the wonderful world of plants! Gardeners are inherently curious. They make note of a plant label in a botanical garden and then go home to learn more. They pick up fallen blossoms to examine them closer. They spend hours reading plant catalogs. But they are often unable to accurately name or describe their discoveries. A Botanist’s Vocabulary gives gardeners and naturalists a better understanding of what they see and a way to categorize and organize the natural world in which they are so intimately involved. Through concise definitions and detailed black and white illustrations, it defines 1300 words commonly used by botanists, naturalists, and gardeners to describe plants.

Visual Voyages

Visual Voyages PDF Author: Daniela Bleichmar
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300224028
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
An unprecedented visual exploration of the intertwined histories of art and science, of the old world and the new From the voyages of Christopher Columbus to those of Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin, the depiction of the natural world played a central role in shaping how people on both sides of the Atlantic understood and imaged the region we now know as Latin America. Nature provided incentives for exploration, commodities for trade, specimens for scientific investigation, and manifestations of divine forces. It also yielded a rich trove of representations, created both by natives to the region and visitors, which are the subject of this lushly illustrated book. Author Daniela Bleichmar shows that these images were not only works of art but also instruments for the production of knowledge, with scientific, social, and political repercussions. Early depictions of Latin American nature introduced European audiences to native medicines and religious practices. By the 17th century, revelatory accounts of tobacco, chocolate, and cochineal reshaped science, trade, and empire around the globe. In the 18th and 19th centuries, collections and scientific expeditions produced both patriotic and imperial visions of Latin America. Through an interdisciplinary examination of more than 150 maps, illustrated manuscripts, still lifes, and landscape paintings spanning four hundred years, Visual Voyages establishes Latin America as a critical site for scientific and artistic exploration, affirming that region's transformation and the transformation of Europe as vitally connected histories.