Phytophilia Blog - Fort Worth Botanic Garden

My Time at Mile High

This is the first in a new “Where Are They Now?”series featuring guest posts from former interns, volunteers, staff, and friends of BRIT. This month’s

One of the treasures of BRIT’s rare book collection is Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, a premier journal for early botanical illustrations and descriptions. The journal has featured over 10,000 color illustrations in its 230 years of publication. Originally titled The Botanical Magazine, it is the longest running illustrated botanical periodical and is still being published today.

Yunnan, China

Dr. Peter Fritsch, BRIT’s VP of Research and Director of the Herbarium, is on a visiting scholarship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, based at

Youth Range Workshop 2016

Just imagine trying to keep up with 25 energetic, enthusiastic, inquisitive high school students for a week in the middle of a hot, dry summer

The changing plant life of small islands in the Sea of Cortéz

This “Notes from the Field” post was written by BRIT Biodiversity Explorer Dr. Sula Vanderplank. Exploring the plant ecology of the Bahía de Los Angeles

Grey Fox: Exploring an Ancient Maya Center

Over the past two summers (2015 & 2016), BRIT Resident Research Associate Dr. Grace Bascopé, a Medical and Environmental Anthropologist, worked with the Maya Research

Survey of BRIT’s Tarrant County Bryophyte Collection

Our interns and volunteers are invaluable at BRIT. In this series, they discuss their experiences with us. This post is by Hanna Liebermann, Hendrix College

Best. Paper. Ever.

I’ll admit it. I’m biased toward brevity. It’s hard to write succinctly, though. Blaise Pascal knew it (“I have made this letter longer than usual,

Insert Clever Title Here

This article originally appeared in BRIT’s former newsletter publication, Iridos, Issue 20(2) 2009. “Hell — is sitting on a hot stone reading your own scientific publications.”

The Sweep of Time

Article originally submitted for The Leaflet (June 2014) by Brian Witte, PhD, BRIT Research Associate Most of us live in the moment. Paycheck-to-paycheck, living for the weekend,

Sustainable Ranching in Mexico

This “Notes from the Field” post is from BRIT Biodiversity Explorer Dr. Sula Vanderplank. Mission: launching Alianca da Terra in Mexico. This blog: a visit

The Living Herbarium: Many Hands Make Godzilla

Article originally published in The Leaflet (May 2014) by Brian Witte, PhD, BRIT Research Associate There is a stereotype of the scientist as a lone genius, laboring

The Living Herbarium: Instructions for Life

Article originally published in The Leaflet (April 2014) by Brian Witte, PhD, BRIT Research Associate (Disclaimer: The technical aspects of this article are dramatically simplified in the

A 54-Year Celebration

The Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (JBRIT) is celebrating its 54th year of continuous publication. It all started when Lloyd H. Shinners—a member of the Southern

Preservation and Storage

Herbarium specimens will last hundreds of years if properly cared for. We are committed to providing a secure and easily accessible collection for scientific research.

Mounting

There is an art to the mounting of plant specimens to their archival quality cardstock backing. BRIT’s volunteers and staff participate in this activity daily.

Identification

Plant identification requires you have as much of the plant as possible, and in some occassions this cannot be accomplished if you are dealing with a sterile specimen.

Pressing and Drying

To facilitate specimen storage and use, collected plants must be pressed to a 2-dimensional status and dried to remove any moisture that would encourage fungal growth.

Data Record and Photography

A specimen is scientifically useful if it is accompanied by collection notes regarding where, when and under what ciscumstances a plant was collected.

Plant Collection

Plant collections ought to be made in such a manner as to increase their longevity as preserved herbarium specimens, as well as optimize their usefulness for future research.Plant collections ought to be made in such a manner as to increase their longevity as preserved herbarium specimens, as well as optimize their usefulness for future research.