Posts tagged with Joseph Banks

Constantly clearing copyright: Colour prints from the Banks’ Florilegium

Posted by & filed under Art, Collections Online, Copyright, Plants.

  • Leptopteris hymenophylloides (A. Richard) C. Presl; Plate 584
  • Collospermum hastatum (Colenso) Skottsberg; Plate 557
  • Vitex lucens Kirk; Plate 525
  • Calystegia tuguriorum (G. Forster) R. Brown ex Hooker f.; Plate 512

Rights Manager Victoria Leachman highlights the latest items to be cleared for Collections Online: a series of beautiful, hand-coloured Banks’ Florilegium copperplate engravings. Part of the role of the rights team at Te Papa is to clear copyright in collection items so Te Papa staff can take and use images. The latest licence negotiated by Catriona… Read more »

Transit of Venus Botany

Posted by & filed under Biodiversity, Events, Plants.

Today is the transit of Venus, when that planet passes in front of the sun. Hopefully the bad weather blanketing much of New Zealand doesn’t preclude at least some people from observing the event. Observing the transit was one of Captain Cook’s primary objectives for the Endeavour expedition, and this was done in Tahiti in… Read more »

Kohekohe, one of the funkiest trees in town!

Posted by & filed under Biodiversity, Collections Online, Exhibitions, Plants.

Fruits of Kohekohe (Dysoxylum spectabile). Photo by C.A. Lehnebach (c) Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

There are four reasons that make kohekohe (Dysoxylum spectabile) one of the funkiest trees in town     First, unlike many other trees, Kohekohe flowers sprout from the trunk and branches. This feature is known as cauliflory and it’s believed to be an adaptation to pollination and seed dispersal by animals that can’t fly or insects living at the ground level.    Second,… Read more »