Musings On Natural History, Science, And The North Woods
Taxonomic descriptions have gotten a bad rap: “dry”, “desiccated”, “mere description”, “stamp collecting”. But a taste for the precise and spare poetry of these nuggets of natural history is worth acquiring. In the past several decades, the Flora of North America Project has been compiling what is hoped to be the standard taxonomic accounts of, … Continue reading White Spruce: A taxonomic description set to verse
Although Minnesotans pride themselves on their Scandinavian heritage, the biological connections between Minnesota and Scandinavia precede European immigration of humans by many centuries. One of the intriguing features of the boreal forest is that its occupants are circumpolar. Thus, moose, wolves, and lynx are found not only in Minnesota, Canada and Alaska, but also in … Continue reading Linnaeus’s Favorite Flower