I am drawn to botanical illustration for the information I can learn from the carefully crafted stories that botanical illustrators tell through their drawings. I appreciate when an illustrator teaches me something new and directs my attention towards something I have never noticed. Because I like looking for new information in an illustration, the plants I choose to study on my own are plants that have something new and out of the ordinary to teach me.
The plant I am learning from at the moment is Dorstenia sp. nova (see above). I have been growing this plant for over one year and am very happy that it likes living here. It is a great plant to watch grow. Its clusters of flowers in a structure called a hypanthodium are what first caught my attention. This plant has grown so well over the course of one year, I decided it would be smart to buy a backup plant in case something happened to my prized specimen. My search for Dorstenia sp. nova resulted in the discovery of Dorstenia crispa, Dorstenia sp. hybrid, and Dorstenia crispa v. lanceolata, each of which came home with me. Oh, well. While I may not have been successful at securing my backup plant, I did lay the foundation for an intriguing Dorstenia collection.
How should you choose a specimen for yourself if you are thinking about beginning a nature journal or gardening journal for the first time? By satisfying the only requirement there is in this entire process and that is to stay true to what genuinely interests you. It doesn’t matter if it is a whole plant, one leaf, roots, half of a seed capsule or a tendril. Make your selection and have fun learning more about your subject. I will discuss how you can learn more your selection next time in Real Life: Learning More About Your Subject on January 8, 2008.
