I am a curator of random facts.
Hello, and welcome to the Herbarium.
Much as I love to illustrate plants and visit gardens, I myself am in no way green fingered, very much the opposite, in fact, as my former Aloe Vera can attest.
However I am a curator of odd, random and often interesting facts. The odder the fact the more likely it is to become lodged within my mind. As I frequently research and reference plants in order to draw them, I am amassing quite a few random botanical facts. So this corner of the internet is somewhere for me to jot them down.
Starting from the top: it is estimated that there are approximately 390,900 plants known to science, of which about 94% are flowering plants.
The word Herbarium is the name for a collection of preserved plant specimens and data, this method of collation can be traced back to Italy's Renaissance. A similar collection of fungi is known as a Fungarium, which I find to be a very satisfyingly rounded word.
And speaking of names: plants can be known by a huge variety of different names, typically they have three main names: a Scientific or Latin name, a Common name (there can be loads of these) and a Cultivated name (often highlights a specific trait). And if that weren’t enough, plants can also be classified by family, as a hybrid or variety.
A great example is Arum maculatum, translating to Spotted Arum, it has more than 30 different common names. I know it as Lords-and-Ladies, aka:
Adam and Eve
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Adder's meat
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Adder's root
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Arum
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Wild arum
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Arum lily
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Bobbins
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Cows and bulls
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Cuckoo pint
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Cuckoo-plant
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Devils and angels
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Friar's cowl
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Jack in the pulpit
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Lamb-in-a-pulpit
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Snakeshead
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Starch-root
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Wake-robin
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Adam and Eve 〰️ Adder's meat 〰️ Adder's root 〰️ Arum 〰️ Wild arum 〰️ Arum lily 〰️ Bobbins 〰️ Cows and bulls 〰️ Cuckoo pint 〰️ Cuckoo-plant 〰️ Devils and angels 〰️ Friar's cowl 〰️ Jack in the pulpit 〰️ Lamb-in-a-pulpit 〰️ Snakeshead 〰️ Starch-root 〰️ Wake-robin 〰️
And that’s just 19 of them.
Easter is coming up, along with fond memories of the smell of rosemary roasting, I will be discussing that charming herb.
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