Dictionary
of Botany

Will Geer
J. S. Henslow

Carl Linnaeus

Jane Loudon

Letter to Will Geer from Woody Guthrie MP3 download

Will Geer
b. 3-9-1902; Frankfort, Indiana
d. 4-22-1978; Los Angeles, California

Botanist, actor and social activist Will Geer founded the Theatricum Botanicum where he combined his acting and botanical careers by making sure that every plant mentioned in Shakespeare was grown there.

Geer is best remembered for his playing the role of Grandpa Walton in the The Waltons and the seasoned trapper in the movie Jeremiah Johnson.

John Stevens Henslow
b. 2-6-1796; Rochester, Kent, England
d. 5-16-1861; Hitcham

Henslow, whose passion for plants overcame his interest in rocks, was an influential botany professor at Cambridge. Henslow's student was Charles Darwin, with whom he had a life long friendship; he was also a correspondent of John James Audubon who named a sparrow for Henslow.

Carl Linnaeus
b. 5-13-1707; Sweden
d. 1-10-1778; Uppsala

Carl Linnaeus, also known as Carolus Linnaeus (Latinized) and Carl von Linné (after ennoblement), was a botanist, physician and zoologist. He is recognized as the “Father of Modern Taxonomy” and one of the fathers of modern ecology. Linnaeus’contribution to science is the binary nomenclature, a formal system of naming species with a Latin name in two parts: first genus, then a specific description, ie. Cornus florida for the flowering dogwood.

Carl Linnaeus quotes-
• “A practical botanist will distinguish at the first glance the plant of the different quarters of the globe and yet will be at a loss to tell by what marks he detects them.”

Jane Loudon, née Webb
b. 8-19-1807; Birmingham, England
d. 7-13-1858

Jane Loudon is best known for illustrations and co-authoring gardening manuals with her husband John, also a botanist and garden designer. She was also an early pioneer in science fiction, her novel Mummy! was written to support herself, when at age 17, her father died penniless.

BTW - Bindweed (wild morning glory, creeping jenny, etc.) a native of Eurasia, was introduced to the west as an ornamental; now it is considered a nuisance and pernicious weed that is nearly impossible to eliminate.

• more flower posters