Thursday, November 29, 2007

A Kew Gardens Story

A personal story from Dr. J...
I had a pen-pal (translation: pen-friend) back in the day (translation: Once upon a time) before e-mail, Skype, texting, who was from Dagenham. Among other "botany and touristy sites", he took me to Kew Gardens when I was young and we visited all the plants, an activity we both enjoyed immensely. I must admit, at the time I thought it was, "Q," Gardens.

Years later, in my first botany course, I read about Kew Gardens and saw a photo of the gardens in the botany text. I said, "I've been there." I was so excited. I didn't know it was so famous. That visit long ago began my love of Botanical Gardens. On returning to the States, I went to the New York Botanical Garden.

My pen-pal and I still contact each other and are familiar with four generations of family. He has done much conservation in the UK and Africa. He has worked for the British Government Soil Survey.

Here's a video from "Kew that shows more plant kinematics:

Kew Gardens: Mimosa pudica



Mimosa pudica references:
http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Mimosa%20pudica.pdf
Мимоза стыдливая--- http://www.booksite.ru/fulltext/Aurobindo/flowers/m/mimosa.htm http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/M/Mimosa_pudica.asp
http://www.bio.miami.edu/mimosa/mimosa.html
http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week147.shtml



Palicourea riparia references :
http://www.springerlink.com/content/h2406g4383k76812/

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0007-196X(196504)17:2%3C144:ATSOP(%3E2.0.CO;2-6

You might also be interested in this article from the New York Times:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/research/index.html?s=oldest&field=des&match=exact&query=FLOWERS%20AND%20PLANTS&offset=20

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