Hold on to your gardening hats, my friends, because come late February, Princeton University Press is going to be publishing Dr. Ross Bayton’s “The Gardener’s Botanical: An Encyclopedia of Latin Plant Names.”
The Gardener’s Botanical
John E. Riutta
About John E. Riutta
Posts by John E. Riutta, MA, MBA, FLS, MemRES:
The Whipple Museum of the History of Science
This new book presents selections of curated items from the museum’s breath-taking collection, ranging from astrolabes to early electronic calculators, and explains some of the interesting and important work that has been made possible by their presence in the museum’s collection.
Renewable Energy and Wildlife Conservation
The funny thing about trying to re-make the world after generations of humans have so effectively un-made it is that sometimes even the best intentioned of plans for a more environmentally friendly and sustainable future can end up producing undesirable, sometimes even environmentally harmful, effects. Solar panel farms, for example, may be seen as less destructive that fossil fuel extraction, however they require for land to develop, disrupting larger amounts of plant and wildlife habitat.
Ultraviolet Utility
Like most naturalists, I have a selection of everyday field kit that travels with me most everywhere I go. A hand lens, a low strength monocular, notebook, pencil, Swiss Army knife, general use forceps, a couple of all-purpose collecting vials, and two flashlights – one standard and one ultraviolet. To most who have ever seen me draw any of these items out of my shoulder bag in order to satisfy my curiosity about something I’ve noticed, all generally make perfect sense and pass without comment – except the UV flashlight.