Chicago
Botanic Garden
1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, Illinois 60022
847.835.5440
United States
botanic garden
245 First Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024
202.225.8333
STUDENT FIELD JOURNAL
Name
U N I T E D S TAT E S B O TA N I C G A R D E N
The U.S. Botanic Garden is maintained and operated by the Architect of the Capitol.
The Chicago Botanic Garden is owned and operated by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.
C H I C A G O B O TA N I C G A R D E N
(1450-1600)
Early Botanical Books
Panel 1:
how to use this activity guide
Welcome to Plants in Print! The history of botanical exploration
and the development of printed books have had a huge impact
on social and cultural progress around the world.
Use this Field Journal as a guide to explore the exhibit. Read
the information on the four panels and look closely at the
exhibit illustrations to find answers to questions in this book.
Have you ever heard of Theophrastus? As a student
of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.),Theophrastus was one of the first
individuals to use a garden for teaching and experimentation. In his garden, he
recognized four categories of plants: trees, shrubs, sub-shrubs, and herbs.
Find Theophrastus’s book. What do you notice about it? Who would
have been interested in a book like this? Why do you think Theophrastus is
called the “father of botany”?
Before the printing press, books were copied by hand;
therefore, they were not exact copies and were subject
to error. Even after the invention of the printing press, early books were still not
widely available to everyone.To justify the expense of printing, books had to be important
religious works, existing classics, or of great practical importance, such as herbals that doctors
used to practice medicine.
Why do you think printed books were not widely
What techniques were used to copy books?
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available to everyone?
(1450-1600)
Panel 1: Early Botanical books continued
Just how important was the printing press, anyway?
Thanks to the printing press (which was invented in 1455), books and information became available
to more people, which helped fuel the Renaissance. Theophrastus’s manuscript, History of Plants, was
translated from Greek into Latin and is one of the earliest botanical books ever printed.This copy
was printed in Italy in 1483.The United States was not even discovered yet!
How did the invention of the
printing press change the world?
Explorers were bringing new plants home from
their voyages in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
These plants found their way into illustrated books that became sources of what was
new and desirable in the plant world.These new plants altered the world’s botanical
perspectives. Once viewed as only practical resources, plants changed into beautiful
and decorative assets.
Do you see a change in the way plants were depicted based on the
changing views of people?
Looking at the first panel, you can see that some of the first
botanical books were herbals. Herbals served as reference books for physicians
for treating patients.They also provided a standard, shared core of botanical knowledge that could
be used by anyone, rather than just by specialists working in isolation. Dioscorides, a Greek physician,
wrote an herbal in the 1st century A.D. that was one of the early bestsellers because it contained
practical information about using plants for everyday remedies.This edition in the exhibit is bilingual—
with two columns on each page—one in Greek and one in Latin!
Find an example of an herbal in this section of the exhibit. What features
does it have? Explain the connection between plants, herbals, and medicine.
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The world was on the verge of major changes! Exploration
around the world resulted in the discovery of new countries,
peoples, and plants. While plants had always been sources of food, fiber, and medicine,
they now could also be viewed as luxuries.These new plants became widely known because of the
increasing availability of printed books. In addition, new plants were seen as desirable for their potential
economic value.
What does it mean for a newly discovered plant to have “potential economic value”?
Why would this concept be an exciting part of plant exploration and discovery? Find a plant in this
section of the exhibit that held great economic value. Where did it come from? Who valued it
and why? Is it still used today?
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(1600-1750)
a common language
Panel 2:
for discovery
By this time, thousands of plants had been discovered! With the
discovery of so many new plants, there was chaos in understanding them—people in different places had their
own unique names for plants. As a result, without a reference system for plants, confusion reigned! There was a great
need for a system of organization—one that people could use as a common language to communicate information about plants.
How would a common language and system of organization make
communication about plant discoveries easier?
Linnaeus later created and published his own system
of classification that he developed as a result of
his experiences. He compiled his information in a 10-volume book called Species
Plantarum, in which he created a naming system for plants based on a two-name system
called binomial nomenclature. This basic system is still used today.
Bi • no • mi • al bi = two and
nomial = name
no • men • cla • ture = a system of names
This classification system uses Latin because it is a
classical language understood worldwide.The first word is the genus name, and is
always capitalized.The second word is the species name, and is never capitalized.
Look around in the exhibit and find three (3) examples of Latin
plant names that show binomial nomenclature. List them here.
Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish medical student, learned about plants
from the native people of Lapland, the northern region of Europe. Linnaeus
recognized the communication problem that existed regarding plants. People could not understand each other because
they used different languages and called plants different names. Linnaeus realized that people needed a common language
so they could communicate plant discoveries...they needed a common system of classification based on a plant’s anatomy
that could define its relation to other plants.
Find the largest picture of Linnaeus in the exhibit. What is he
holding in his left hand? In his right hand? Read the description
of the portrait. What is the meaning of each of the objects?
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1)
2)
3)
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(1600-1750)
Panel 2: a common language for discovery continued
What does Linnaeus’s classification system
Here are some examples of Latin words that are used as names of species:
look like?
rubrum means “red”
japonicus means “from Japan”
officinale means “used for medicine”
vomitoria means “poisonous; makes you vomit if eaten”
The Latin name for a plant is called its scientific name. The everyday name we give a plant is called its common name.
A plant may have many common names, but it will have only one scientific name.
Example:
Scientific name: Setaria parviflora
Common name: Yellow bristlegrass
Knotroot foxtail
Marsh bristlegrass
(1800s)
exploring the world
Panel 3:
As people explored the world armed with Linnaeus’s system,
plant discovery became recognized as a critical part of
the social, cultural, and political scenes of
various countries. Governments began to sponsor expeditions to be conducted
around the world in hopes of finding new plants that had economic potential and were therefore
marketable. In fact, Columbus wasn’t looking for America when he stumbled upon it. He was looking
for a shortcut to India, where he was going to look for new spices that, of course, are plants.
So, the search for plants led to Columbus setting foot on America!
Find a plant in the exhibit that interests you and write its
scientific name. By looking closely at the roots of the words,
see if you can figure out their meanings.
In this exhibit, which countries sponsored
What motivated the expeditions?
plant expeditions?
Scientific Name:
Meaning:
Linnaeus’s system became necessary because
of the abundance of plants that needed to be
organized, or classified, in some way. After it was
created, his system led to even more plant exploration and discovery, and enabled
explorer-botanists to uncover and communicate many new, fascinating characteristics
about their plant findings. Science often works this way—research that is conducted
to answer one set of questions or issues often leads to new questions or issues. Linnaeus’s
thinking was quickly adopted by his students and colleagues, who carried his message
and used his system to improve communication about plant discoveries around the world.
Look closely in the exhibit to find a book by one of Linnaeus’s students.
What knowledge did he add to the field of plant studies?
{6}
Who was Mungo Park? Looking for the source of the Niger River in West Africa,
Mungo Park, a 24-year old Scotsman, described his experiences with plants and people in his book,
Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa. Joseph Conrad, an American novelist, called Mr. Park’s tales the
“best travel book ever written”.
Find the map of Mr. Park’s travels in Africa in the exhibit. Can
you plot the Niger River to trace his travels? What plant was particularly
intriguing to Mr. Park? Why?
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(1800s)
Panel 3: exploring the world continued
A growing interest in ornamental plants emerged.
Ornamental plants are those cultivated simply for their beauty rather than for food or other practical
uses. Because of the increasing availability and interest in ornamental plants for those individuals who
could afford them, gardens became status symbols of a growing middle class that had more money and
leisure time than ever before.This was an important indicator of a developing society, as plants were
no longer used just for food, medicine, and spices.
Find a book in this section of the exhibit that shows peoples’ interest in gardening
and using plants ornamentally. How do the illustrations in this book compare
to those found in earlier books in the exhibit?
Communicating information about plants was even
better with illustrations. As the pace of new plant arrivals in
Europe increased, advanced printing technologies made possible the reproduction of highly
detailed, scientific plant illustrations. This new level of detail enabled botanists to communicate
their observations with astonishing accuracy. Scientific illustration is still a profession today,
and is one way that art and science can be combined.
Find a plant that appeals to you in this exhibit and sketch it.
Write its name and describe it. Be as detailed as you can in both your
sketch and your written description. See if a friend can recognize this
plant from your sketch and description.
Your scientific illustration:
Scientific name:
Your written description:
What was all the fuss about orchids? Queen Victoria, the Queen of
England, adored plants and promoted gardening. During her reign, orchids became widely popular.
People paid high prices for orchids as they were brought back from distant lands. Robert Warner’s
Orchid Album met the demand from orchid lovers around the world as an encyclopedic reference
book of these exotic plants.
Find the Orchid Album. Why do you think orchids were, and continue to be,
so popular? Why do people find them unique and valuable? List one aspect
of orchids that you find interesting.
{8}
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(1700-1800)
discovering America’s plants
Panel 4:
The Swedish physician and botanist, Carl Peter Thunberg,
was one of the most famous students of Linnaeus. He used Linnaeus’s
classification system to name the plants that he discovered on his expeditions to Japan and South Africa.
Thunberg is therefore known as the “Japanese Linnaeus” as well as the “father of South African botany”.
Find Thunberg’s book about plants from Japan. What is the scientific
name of the plant you see illustrated? What is its common name?
North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida...exotic?
We take our surroundings for granted today, but everything was new and exotic to Europeans
who came to America in the 1700s. John Bartram and his son,William Bartram, were two early
American explorers who traveled the land in search of new plants. John Bartram was employed
as the Botanist of King George III. His son wrote Bartram’s Travels, published in 1791, where he
tells of his travels to the “exotic” lands of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.The
book includes descriptions of encounters with Native American peoples. Linnaeus called John
Bartram “the greatest natural botanist in the world” because he had little formal education
and was self-taught.
Find the book Bartram’s Travels in the American section of
the exhibit. Every place was new and exotic at one time, just as Florida was
to Bartram. How would you describe to others the ecosystem, plants, and land
where you live?
Scientific name:
Common name:
Copperplate engraving was popular in
the 17th and 18th centuries. This is the process through which
illustrations were engraved on sheets of copper and were characterized by strong
lines and fine detail.
copperplate engravings help people
communicate information about plants?
How did
{ 10 }
As travelers and explorers were discovering new plant species on
their long voyages, it became difficult to get plants and seeds back to their homelands alive. After
all, long voyages were characterized by shortages of fresh water and plants were subject to death by saltwater spray,
drought, and the searing sun. John Ellis, a plant merchant and naturalist, wrote a book providing instructions on how
to pack and ship plants and seeds from the East Indies and other distant countries so they could survive long voyages.
Specifically, he gave instructions to sea captains and physicians on how to bring plants and seeds back alive.
Find Ellis’s book in the exhibit. Sea captains and physicians are two
very different groups of people. Why was the packing and shipping of plants
important to each of them?
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(1700-1800)
Panel 4: discovering america’s plants continued
Discovery never ends...
Venus’s fly-trap was a newly discovered
marvel and an eye-opener for explorers and the
world of plants. In his book, John Ellis described this plant as “a miniature
figure of a rat-trap with teeth that closes on every fly or insect that creeps between
its leaf lobes and squeezes it to death.” Today,Venus’s fly-trap is still one of the most
intriguing plants in the world!
What did you discover today?
What new questions did you come up with?
What issues are you interested
in investigating?
Find Venus’s fly-trap in the exhibit. What is its scientific name? Can you
determine the functions of the different parts of the plant from the illustrations?
What are the unique adaptations of this plant to its environment?
Why are plants still important today?
What role do plants play in our
society and in our lives?
Scientific name:
What are some of today’s issues that people
might be able to address using plants?
Functions:
How could plants be used to
solve some of the world’s problems?
Adaptations:
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