SECTION 5: Kingdom of the Plants
Gombe. The forest of my childhood dreams, dim and green under the canopy, chimpanzees feasting on the ripe fruits of the tall Mtobogolo figs. There are so many species of figs at Gombe. Most of them have their own species of wasp living among the ripe fruits. As I wander the forest, learning about Read More
A few years ago, I had the singular honor of having an orchid named for me—Spathoglottis Jane Goodall. It had been developed by a horticulturist at the Singapore Botanical Gardens where there is a small area set aside for hybrid orchids of this sort. Mostly they have been named for people like members of Read More
Flowering Mauna Loa silverswords in the managed breeding population at the Volcano Rare Plant Facility (credit: Silversword Foundation).
Mauna Kea Read More
Tahina Palm (Tahina spectabilis)
Carossier Palm (Attalea crassispatha)
I love palms. Partly because there is something so romantic about a tropical beach where coconut palms cast their thin shade over fine white sand—it reminds me of a long-ago holiday when I first went to Kenya. But more importantly because, on the very first night I spent Read More
I have always loved trees. I remember once, when I was about six years old, bursting into tears and frantically hitting an older cousin (with my little hands only!) because he was stamping on a small sapling at the bottom of the garden. He told me he hated trees because they “made wind”! Read More
It is wonderful to learn how many plants once thought to be extinct—sometimes for decades—have been rediscovered as botanists explore different parts of the world. During my research for this section, I learned about so many from my botanist friends at Kew, from Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, and from Hugh Bollinger. Read More
Whilst gathering information for this section, I have learned a great deal not only about the resilience of plants but also about the quite extraordinary dedication of those botanists, horticulturists, and others who have done so much to preserve the diversity of flora around the world. And I do not want to end this Read More
