Mudhand

Alchemilla taernaënsis

If you want to see this newly described (1993) Alchemilla taernaensis you have to go up quite far north, to Lyckelse Lappmark in northern Sweden, the only region in the world where it grow. Alchemilla is a genus with several hundred species mostly in Eurasian temperate and subarctic regions. Many of these species [...]

Swietenia mahagoni

Cuban mahogany, the “original” mahogany introduced to Europe five centuries ago, before it was almost extinct in the wild (wherever that is; since it has been introduced to many areas it is now difficult to know where it is natural). The remaining populations are now of poor quality, through “genetic erosion”, that is [...]

Dactyladenia cinerea

Wanted! More collections! And recent ones, please! But I doubt it ever will be collected again; according to the IUCN Red List it has only been collected once (in 1904), in an area now mostly turned into agriculture land… For the time being, it is listed as Critically Endangered, but can probably be [...]

Acrostichum calomelanos

Is it the great Linnaean disciple Daniel Solander’s (1733-1782) hair that is stuck under the frond? Or even Linnaeus’?! This Pityrogramma calomelanos was collected on Jamaica in the 18C, perhaps by Patrick Browne (1720-1790). It is a widely cultivated and naturalized species (“first colonizer of erupted volcanoes in Mex.”), used as ornamental. Mabberley [...]