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    beech twig

    Botany: Telling species apart

    Many plant species look similar, and it can be tricky to tell them apart. The blogs here try to make these differences simple to spot. They relate to species which have been recently illustrated; to do a decent botanical illustration you need to know which traits are specific to which species!

    brassica

    Wildflower families: Brassicaceae, the Cabbage family

    Posted on in Wildflower families
    Wildflower families: Brassicaceae, the Cabbage family is another blog I’m writing in a series on wildflower families, inspired by my online Field Studies Council course.  Adding botanical knowledge of flower families to my observations of plants helps to increase the accuracy of my illustration work. White mustard Sinapis alba These blogs discuss some common wildflower […] Read more
    Botanical illustration from the Breckncockshire Flora

    Monocot and Eudicot variety: Illustrations

    Posted on in Botany: Telling species apart
    Monocots and Eudicots are enormous groups, making up over 80% of plants on earth.  During a recent job, illustrating the Brecknockshire flora, I was commissioned to create two illustrations highlighting the most interesting, beautiful, and most locally important members of these groups. Moncots vs Eudicots There are several main differences between these two enormous groups.  […] Read more
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    Geraniums, Crane’s-bills and Stork’s-bills

    Posted on in Botany: Telling species apart
    Geraniums, Crane’s-bills and Stork’s-bills is a guest blog from the wonderful Stewart Roberts, a local naturalist who shares his knowledge of nature and Welsh folklore on his wonderful Facebook page, where his illustrates his posts with his excellent wildlife photos. Potted Geranium from the garden centre The Geranium family Hardy Geraniums and the half-hardy pot plants Pelargoniums […] Read more

    Cow Parsley: All about an Umbellifer

    Posted on in Botany: Telling species apart, Current projects and news
    Cow parsley Anthriscus sylvestris was on the list of plants I recently illustrated for FOR Sweden.  These plants are invasive in Scandinavia, and particularly troublesome in Iceland. Sketchbook studies All the botanical illustrations I do for FOR are in a sketchbook format.  I love working this way; it gives me the opportunity to include tons […] Read more

    Comparing Goldenrod Species

    Posted on in Botany: Telling species apart
    Comparing Goldenrod species was one of my tasks in a recent commission  for a Horticultural company in Sweden.  All the illustrations were sketchbook studies.  Every plant was an invasive. Overview of Canadian Goldenrod Solidago canadensis and Early Goldenrod Solidago gigantea The focus of the illustration is the Canadian goldenrod. Most Goldenrods are native to the […] Read more
    Lupin

    Garden Lupin Sketchbook study

    Posted on in Botanical Illustration step by step, Botany: Telling species apart, Current projects and news, Illustration techniques
    The Garden Lupin, Lupinus polyphyllus, is one of the invasive plants I was recently asked to illustrate for FOR Sweden.  This blog talks you through the steps involved in creating a finished botanical illustration of this flower.  There seems to be an enormous amount of confusion over the English name of this plant: Blue bonnet […] Read more

    Invasive & Japanese Knotweeds: Telling species apart

    Posted on in Botany: Telling species apart
    Invasive and Japanese knotweeds are incredibly successful plants.  Originally from Japan, China and Taiwan, they escaped from ornamental gardens, and have become established across the UK.  They’re especially common in urban and brown-field habitats, and love railway embankments and the damp soils of water ways.  One of the most difficult aspects of controlling them is […] Read more

    What’s the difference between Virginia creeper and False Virginia creeper?

    Posted on in Botany: Telling species apart
    Virginia creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia and False Virginia creeper Parthenocissus inserta are common and decorative.  They are favourites with gardeners, who train them to grow up walls of houses and pubs where they give cover and autumn colour.  They’re vigorous climbers, deciduous, perennial, and develop woody stems. They are also classed as an invasive plant species […] Read more

    Telling Cotoneasters apart

    Posted on in Botany: Telling species apart
    My recent botanical illustration work for a Field Studies Chart (as yet unpublished) on Invasive species included 5 species of Cotoneaster. Telling these plants apart can be a real headache, but I’m going to give it a go, and share my thoughts.  I’m more than happy to be corrected in the comments section below! Cotoneasters are really […] Read more
    Buttercup

    Botanical Illustration: Buttercup Species

    Posted on in Botany: Telling species apart, Showcase of themed natural history illustrations
    Looking through my botanical illustrations recently, I realised I’d completed quite a few watercolors of flowers in the Buttercup genus (family Ranunculaceae).  Like the botany ingénue I am, I assumed I’d covered most of the British buttercups, and decided to write this blog.  Little did I know, I wasn’t even half-way through them! Ranunculus family […] Read more
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    Lizzie Harper