… This is the story of a road trip I took with some corpse flowers, the rock stars of the plant world. … at bloom time—a hybrid of week-old gym socks and a rotting mouse that you just can’t seem to find in your kitchen. The Garden began collecting titan arums, or corpse flowers, in 2003. There’s a worldwide conservation effort to preserve the species, as it is considered “vulnerable”—unless the circumstances threatening …
Type: Blog
… in your garden? How about marigolds, coleus, a gingko, or a panicle hydrangea? If so, this is a testimony to the many plant explorers who, in the past four centuries, traveled far and wide, for years at … chapter in the annals of science. American and foreign botanists often risked their lives to serve the sciences and arts that depended on plants. Their work took them into the wilderness, …
Type: Blog
… I’ve stated before, we in the education department of the Chicago Botanic Garden are committed to helping parents and teachers find great projects that teach students how plants sustain and … or an entire class. Let’s begin by thinking about tomato seeds. Cut open a tomato and try to pick out a single seed. Go ahead and try it, I’ll wait. These tomato seeds glisten and mock me … a gelatinous substance that makes them slippery and difficult to handle. So the first question is, what purpose does the slimy coating serve? This is not the kind of blog post where I give …
Type: Blog
… Botanic Garden? Find out with our mystery photo challenge! Guess these objects and where to find them with our close-up snapshots. Click on the picture to reveal the answer to each clue below. Clue: Right past here, you’ll find six unique rooms … too. × It’s the English Walled Garden gate! The Helen and Richard Thomas English Walled Garden is a favorite among visitors and was originally created by the noted British landscape architect, …
Type: Blog
… which monarchs lay their eggs, and its caterpillars, also called larvae, eat milkweed leaves to grow. But these plants have other interesting characteristics, including blooms that are amazingly complex. Milkweeds are found mostly in open prairies and savannas and are known to most by their fruits, which are pod-like structures (follicles) that split open to release … milkweed (A. verticillata) , which often can be found at the very edge of highways where there is little competition or dry pastures and degraded prairies, and swamp milkweed (A. incarnata) , …
Type: Blog
… Competition is heating up in the western United States. Invasive and native plants are racing to claim … Alicia Foxx, who studies the interplay of roots of native and invasive plants, is glued to the action. The results of this contest, says the plant biology and conservation doctoral …
Type: Blog
… I always look forward to seeing Indian corn in the market and finding it in autumn decorations. Indian corn—in its range of hues from blue to deep maroon to oranges, golds, and yellows—extends the colors of the season long after the tree leaves have faded and been raked away. It is one of November’s icons, reminding us of the cultural and botanical history of the continent. …
Type: Blog
… you may find this plant: You can’t miss the orange flowers of this jewelweed, but look closer to find the seedpod hanging below and to the right of the third blossom. Its scientific name is Impatiens capensis , and jewelweed has some interesting features that make it worth getting …
Type: Blog
… Many of us watched and loved the movie. Some of us read the book. A few of us got inspired to use the story to teach plant science to students. The Martian by Andy Weir tells the fictional story of NASA … on to other projects. One important thing I must mention: technically speaking, this mixture is not truly soil. Soil is the upper layer of material on the Earth that serves as an ideal …
Type: Blog
… We humans have used technology to become masters of communication. But we are far from the only species with an impressive array … Scarlet Mormon (Papilio rumanzovia) Photo by Bill Bishoff Consider the butterfly’s ability to see ultraviolet light. UV light is a spectrum of light between 10 and 400 nanometers that humans and most other animals cannot …
Type: Blog
