Limited to 750 hand-numbered editions, the gorgeous Plants of the Americas is the first facsimile the edition of Selectarum stirpium Americanarum historia (1763) by botanist Nikolaus von Jacquinheld, an epic tome that’s part of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in England. With 264 beautiful and accurate illustrations reproduced from the original, hand-painted ones by Austrian botanical artists the Bauer brothers, it’s quarter-bound in goatskin, features cloth sides …
Not only is an Amazonian water lily massive, with leaves that can grow up to 10 feet, but it’s also strong enough to withstand the weight of a small child. For years, researchers have attempted to ascertain how lily pads can do this. A recent study from Science Advances uncovered how a network of fractal veins, which radiate concentrically from a central stem, efficiently support the …
Edited by Laurie Cluitmans and published by Valiz, On the Necessity of Gardening explores gardening through social, cultural, political and historical perspectives. Organized as an abecedarium (a written work consisting of the letters of an alphabet, in order) the book traces the ways that gardens—once perceived in medieval times to be sites of paradise—became, by the 18th century, spaces of power and politics. This tale …
