Galanthus, or snowdrop, is a small genus of approximately 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leaves and a single small white drooping bell-shaped flower with six petal-like (petaloid) tepals in two circles (whorls). The smaller inner petals have green markings. Snowdrops have been known…
Happy Birthday to Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, FRS (24 February 1743 – 19 June 1820). He was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James Cook’s first great voyage (1768–1771), visiting…
On this day 388 years ago the first recorded speculative bubble or asset bubble in history collapsed. The Dutch tulip mania (in Dutch: „Tulpenmanie“) was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels. The major acceleration started in…