“On mesa and valley floor and treeless loma, the mantle of vivid green is overlaid riotously with color — the orange of California poppies; the blue and lavender of sturdy lupines and lolling wild heliotrope; the mauve of owl’s clover; the pale gold of sun-cups...
To you, my children, These lovely flowers I give. Prune ye my vines and fig trees, With care my flowers tend, But keep the pathway open Your home is at the end. from "God's Garden" -- Robert Frost The first Mesopotamian writings on clay tablets included information about plants. Ancient pharmacopoeias recorded...
“At two P.M we set sail, and the men voluntarily launched out to make a traverse of fifteen miles across Melville Sound, before a strong wind and heavy sea. The privation of food, under which our voyagers were then laboring, absorbed every other terror; otherwise...
As if some little Arctic flower Upon the polar hem – Went wandering down the Latitudes Until it puzzled came To continents of summer – To firmaments of sun – To strange, bright crowds of flowers – And birds, of foreign tongue! – Emily Dickinson The Northwest Passage was the name given to the...
“But I must gather knots of flowers and buds, and garlands gay; For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson, “The May Queen”...
“[Joseph] Banks reported in 1788 to the British East India Company that the climate in parts of northeast India was perfect for growing Camillia sinensis, the bush that produces tea leaves. The plant turned out to be indigenous to the Assam area, which eventually became...