… Grounds supervisor. Melecio supervises four regular employees and 43 seasonal employees, and is responsible for general grounds maintenance, major event support (set up and tear down), and the landscape waste program. He is an expert equipment operator and trains staff and volunteers in safety and equipment …
Type: Staff bio
… in science to pursue careers in STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math. Divine, who is from the Chicago neighborhood of Ashburn, will be a freshman at Lindblom Math and Science Academy next year. Another participant, Alexis, who is from Little Village, begins his freshman year at Northside College Preparatory High School in … recommended that she apply to the program, which seemed a perfect fit—her interest in science is rooted in the books she read as a child. Divine has always loved reading and would sometimes …
Type: Blog
… air and from the leaf litter in the tree niche it inhabits. Orchid Roots Are Adventitious That is, an orchid’s roots can grow along the stem of the plant, not just out of the bottom of it. The … removed from the mother plant along with their own set of adventitious roots. The White Stuff Is Velamen An aerial root should look fleshy and green; the white coating that covers it is called the velamen. Thin and rather papery, but spongy and protective, it’s a one-way water …
Type: Blog
… graduate program run by Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden. Flower timing is critical for many reasons. For the earliest of the spring bloomers, earlier flowering provides … spring blooms known as ephemerals, these early foragers would go hungry because nothing else is in bloom. In return for pollen and nectar, bees and other pollinators move pollen from flower … us a better understanding for how certain plant species will respond to climate change, which is signaling many plant species to flower earlier than in the past. Samantha Danguilan is a …
Type: Blog
… the Garden's research capacity to address priority management needs. Ultimately, our goal is to play a leading role in supporting the conservation, management, and restoration of native … agricultural ecosystems and to train the next generation of scientists. Much of my research is carried out with students as part of the Garden’s graduate program in Plant Biology and … opportunities to learn how to care for and understand natural areas. Our natural areas team is working to make natural history data on Mary Mix McDonald Woods available - the following …
Type: Staff bio
… watercolor paintings of flowers and insects, embroidery patterns, and copper engravings, she is also credited with being the founder of German entomology. At age 13 she began studying the … century. Nine species of butterflies, six plants, and two beetles were named for her. She is still a well-known historic figure today and is represented on the 500 deutsche mark banknote and a German postage stamp; she was the subject …
Type: Blog
… diversity of fossil plants and animals. The Early Cretaceous of Mongolia in particular is well known for its fossil dinosaurs and other vertebrates, but fossil plants from Mongolia are … and China that are yielding new, exceptionally well-preserved fossil seed plants. Our goal is to understand the diversity and evolutionary implications of these fossil plants. The fossils … and Cretaceous age “whole plants” from multiple co-occurring fossil organs. Our research is adding significantly to knowledge about extinct seed plants during the Jurassic and Early …
Type: Staff bio
… delighted to see a special guest star at the Tropical Greenhouse: Alice the Amorphophallus is on display, in full and glorious fruit! Visitors are asking: why are some of the berries on … You can see the difference on Alice’s infructescence (fruit stalk) , too: the stalk is curving. As the chubby, seed-filled fruits from Stinky’s pollen continue to ripen and enlarge, the structure is bending over the small, non-viable fruits from Spike’s pollen. Each of the berries produced …
Type: Blog
… life. Try this soil seed-bank test to discover the magic of topsoil. The soil seed-bank test is used by farmers, scientists, and others to find out what weed seeds are hidden in a garden or … could affect the growth of the crop. You can use the same basic procedure to find out what is living in the soil in your yard or other location. For this variation of the test, your … soil from a woodland area Dry leaves (leaf litter) from the ground above the soil collection site Moss growing nearby Directions Pour a layer of gravel about 2 inches deep on the bottom of …
Type: Blog
… flora of the areas we are going to visit. We search out areas of the world where the climate is similar to that of the midwestern United States, and we make lists. Lots of lists. Massive … gasoline in the country, driver wages, botanist guides, food, and lodging. All of this data is condensed into a one-page document that our hosts submit to the national environmental … each country for approval and permits for the trip. Among our goals on plant-collecting trips is to collect seeds to conserve and to look for plants of horticultural interest to display in …
Type: Blog
