Author: bcjj

There are many plants that fit this description, e.g. tea, anyone? or cinchona the source of the anti-malarial medicine quinine, but here is one I did not know.  Gutta percha.  By the late 1800’s the British Empire was the largest to have existed, spanning the globe from England to India, Malaya, Australia and Canada.  Communication by boat took weeks or months.  The invention of the telegraph and the unique properties of Gutta percha enabled the empire to remain manageable well into the 1900’s.

Enjoy this short video from the BBC

Gutta Percha: The tree that shrunk the world – BBC Reel

This painting hangs in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles.  The colors, vibrancy and lushness are striking.  Apparently, he could take months and even years to finish works like this because he always had the actual plant in the studio when he painted.  Since the still life comprised flowers, fruits and leaves from different seasons it was a patient task to paint them all in.

Shirley Poppies are most commonly mixtures of pink and red.  This year the most unusual color that appeared was a single plant with purple-gray flowers and wrinkled petals. Somber, but striking nonetheless.    The red string is a marker so seed can be collected in a few weeks.

Iconic symbol of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team and other national sports teams and athletes. I photographed this frond fragment on a trail in Otari-Wilton’s Bush, Wellington, NZ in March 2022.  Alsophina dealbata, can grow to 30 feet and the full fern frond can be 10 feet long. It is the underside that is white/silver.