Charles Darwin is best known for his theory of evolution and other natural history achievements, but little is known about his enduring and insightful work with plants and the important role they played in formulating his ideas. Yet from cradle to grave, botany played a pivotal role in Darwin's life. From counting peonies and playing under the apple trees in his father's garden as a boy to collecting "all the plants in flower" on his famous voyage to the Galápagos as a young man and testing the sex and sensitivity of plants at his home, Down House, in his later years, plants were a lifelong preoccupation for Darwin.
Darwin's Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure explores the untold story of Darwin's botanical influences, his research, and his contribution to our understanding of plants, and ultimately, of life in general. The exhibition is featured in three Botanical Garden venues and includes an "evolutionary tour" of living plants that demonstrate key points on the tree of life, which links all living beings through a common ancestry.
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3 comments:
I know! I saw this in the NY times and it makes me wish I lived in New York :(.
Darwin came up in my first published article, but he got edited out. I never posted about that one. It involved Asa Gray, botanist and plant explorer, who corresponded regularly with Darwin; Oconee Bells, Shortia galacifolia, a rare native plant and its clear family resemblance to plant specimens from Japan.
These multi-family plant kinships between the eastern US and Japan provided insight and data towards the theory of evolution.
I'd like to see this too...I wonder if there will be an exhibit like this anywhere else? (Chicago would be cool :)
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