ArtPlantae Today

Collecting plant material is one of my favorite past times. Like most gardeners, I buy seeds, bulbs, corms, rhizomes and plants that are not zoned for where I live just to see if they will grow. USDA and Sunset zoning charts mean nothing to me. They only help me steer clear of plants requiring 500 hours or more of cold. Well, kinda. I have a peony in the garden that is supposed to be okay in warmer climates. All I can say is that it has made an appearance above ground and produced leaves only a few times during the past, oh let’s see, twelve years. These days, my plant collecting has been limited to what I can grow around me in pots. I amnot the down-in-the-dirt gardener I used to be, however this hasn’t changed the way I shop for plants and how I learn more about them.

Acquiring plant material happens very easily for plant enthusiasts because they are very generous and share plants with each other without giving it a second thought. Between shared cuttings, seedlings, and small samples lifted from floral arrangements, plant acquisition is like breathing. It just happens.

Before I get into resources that might help you identify what you’ve collected, let me back up and approach plant acquisition from a different angle. What if you already know the type of plant that you want, but don’t know where to look for it? In a situation such as this, go to Plant Information Online,
a collection of databases managed by the University of Minnesota. At one time, I maintained an annual subscription to this site and would use it to search for nurseries and catalogs selling the plants I wanted to purchase. However a subscription is no longer necessary because this exhaustive resource is now available online for free. If you are searching for a specific plant, I suggest that you begin your search here.

As for the plants already in your possession, you can learn more about what you have from many different resources. Here are a few suggestions to get you on your way:

For floral subjects acquired at farmers markets, flower shops and from other people’s flower arrangements:
Visit the Flower Promotion Organization. You will find a flower encyclopedia containing the most common flowers used in the floral industry. Click on Reference Guide, then Encyclopedia. You might also want to check with your local cut flower association for additional resources. Here in California, we have the California Cut Flower Commission.

For trees: About.com:Forestry is a nice place to begin your studies.

To Search for Information from Colleges and Universities:
Conduct a search through Google and use the site: syntax. This syntax enables you to narrow your search by site or domain. So if you are researching a topic and want results specific to what is written about this topic within academic institutions, include site:edu after your search term. For example, in a search for information about maple trees you would type the following into Google’s search field, acer site:edu. By using the site: syntax, you will generate a list of results from websites that include the top-level domain of .edu.

For general botany information:
There is no shortage of websites here. I love the Internet and have more saved bookmarks than I do brain capacity. I am going to take the easy way out and simply point your in the direction of the National Biological Information Infrastructure website and leave you to submerge yourself in the many biological resources listed at this site. Click on Botany.

For information linking botany and botanical art:
Please consider bookmarking ArtPlantae.com or subscribing to the live feed from ArtPlantae Today for information pertaining to botany and botanical art.

Helpful References for Your Library:

• American Nurseryman Publishing Company. 2006. The Pronouncing Dictionary of Plant Names. A pocket guide to over 3,000 plant names.
• Borror, Donald J. 1971. Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms. A dictionary that will help you breakdown and understand biological terms and scientific names.
• Castner, James L. 2004. Photographic Atlas of Botany and Guide to Plant Identification. A great photo reference for your studio library.
• Glimn-Lacy, Janice and Peter B. Kaufman. 2006. Botany Illustrated: Introduction to Plants, Major Groups, Flowering Plant Families. Second edition. Learn about plant families by adding color to pen & ink illustrations using the authors’ prescribed color code.
• Zomlefer, Wendy B. 1994. Guide to Flowering Plant Families
  A valuable reference created by Zomlefer, a botanist and botanical illustrator.

These references are available at ArtPlantae Books.

Please return for the next installment of Real Life on January 22, 2008.