Through a Magnifying Glass

Identifier3.24609

TypeDrawing

Date created1944

DescriptionIllustrations of lichens, flowers, buds, leaves, twigs, and seeds of various plants, created to accompany "Through A Magnifying Glass" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Includes descriptive text next to each plant image.

Plants depicted in three sections, from left to right, top to bottom:

Section 1: There are lichens in the spruce plot,

• Pixie cups -- Cladonia chlorophaea
• British soldiers -- Cladonia cristatella
• Awl lichen -- Cladonia coniocraea

Section 2: The first flower of the year shows unique details,

• Vernal Witch hazel -- Hamamelis vernalis

Section 3: And many buds, leaves, twigs, and seeds hold interest -

• A magnolia bud wears deep velvet
• The persistent leaves of bayberry are copper and rose underneath, set with amber globules
• Butternut buds wear camels' faces
• Birch seeds and the scales of their cones play several variations on the same theme, including European white, gray, cherry, and river
• Queen Anne's lace has design in its "bird-nest" seed heads
• Spore capsules of mosses show many patterns. This one is Funaria hygrometrica, with a seta that twists and untwists with changing humidity
• A buckeye bud may reveal a flower cluster and several leaves

Appeared InMorton Arboretum Bulletin Of Popular Information, Vol. 19, no. 2, p. 7. 

LanguageEnglish