Botanical Charts

These hand-painted botanical teaching charts were produced for the Imperial College of Japan. Imperial Universities were founded by the Empire of Japan between 1886 and 1939, and were Japan’s most prestigious institutions during Imperial rule.

From:  A Garden of Earthly Delights (exhibition)
At:        Hocken Library, Dunedin, New Zealand
The exhibition runs until August 11, 2019

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Click on the photo to enlarge

Top row (L-R): 1. legume 2. Polypore (bracket fungi) series 3. Series of slime moulds of the Physarum genus (which translates to “the many-headed slime”). 4. Lichens: Usnea (old man’s beard) above and Cladonia (cup lichen) below, which is the primary food source for reindeer.

Bottom row (L-R): 1. Nepenthes (tropical pitcher or monkey cup), a carnivorous plant found in hot, humid lowland areas of the Malay Archipelago between China and Australia 2. Phallus impudicus (stinkhorn) a mushroom recognised for its foul odour and phallic shape as well as its ability to grow 10-15 cm per hour and push through asphalt. Also on this chart is Phallus indusiatus (long net stinkhorn), an edible mushroom used in Chinese haute cuisine. 3. no info 4. Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe or ghost plant), a parasitic plant that obtains nutrients directly from fungi and does not rely on sunlight to grow.

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Two photos of individual charts…

First: Series of slime moulds of the Physarum genus (which translates to “the many-headed slime”)

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Second: Lichens: Usnea (old man’s beard) above and Cladonia (cup lichen) below, which is the primary food source for reindeer.

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Information in this post is taken from notes displayed alongside the charts. Here are the notes (they contain more information than I’ve shared).

Click on photo to enlarge

— All photos in this post taken by Nigel

This is my third post on the exhibition. Click here to see the other posts

Here is a link to  Hocken Library website

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Text by Liz, photos by Nigel; Exploring Colour (2019)