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Darwin Day Lecture: Darwin and the Art of Botany
February 12, 2025 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Register Here
with Jim Costa, Executive Director, Highlands Biological Station
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 PM ET; followed by a reception sponsored by the Carolina Biodiversity Collaborative
Location: Hybrid – Virtual and In-person attendance options
Fee: Free; preregistration required
Join Highlands Biological Station executive director Dr. Jim Costa for an illustrated exploration of Darwin’s impact on the world of botany, through the lens of beautiful botanical art.
Charles Darwin is best known for his work on the evolution of animals, but in fact a large part of his contribution to the natural sciences is focused on plants. His observations are crucial to our modern understanding of so much about plant biology, from the amazing pollination process of orchids to plant carnivory to the way that vines climb. Darwin scholar Jim Costa teamed up with botanical artist Bobbi Angell to explore Darwin’s fascination with the plant world in their new book Darwin and the Art of Botany: Observations on the Curious World of Plants.
A celebration of Darwin’s often overlooked botanical interests, the book spotlights 45 fascinating plants studied by Darwin, each illustrated with beautiful botanical art selected from the Library at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. Join us for this talk and come away with a new appreciation of Darwin’s creative botanical investigations, the plants he studied, and the ways in which he helped shape our understanding of the world around us.
