Lin Hawthorne
@haggewoods.bsky.social
Still Curious
Editor, author, biologist, horticulturist. FLS
Dilettante now, with interests in
Scientific Latin
Plant-invertebrate interactions
Colours of Nature
Truth and Beauty
naturallatin.com
Editor, author, biologist, horticulturist. FLS
Dilettante now, with interests in
Scientific Latin
Plant-invertebrate interactions
Colours of Nature
Truth and Beauty
naturallatin.com
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Have lichens ever really been resynthesized from their symbiotic components in vitro? Depends on how you define “resynthesized” and “lichen”. Our new review out in @annualreviews.bsky.social
#Lichens form their complex thalli through a partnership involving at least a fungus and an alga. But can these living structures be rebuilt in vitro? For more than a century, people have tried. With @spribille.bsky.social we revisited 150 years of #lichen #resynthesis to ask: has anyone succeeded?
November 10, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Have lichens ever really been resynthesized from their symbiotic components in vitro? Depends on how you define “resynthesized” and “lichen”. Our new review out in @annualreviews.bsky.social
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Sinon les illustrations d'Acharius Erich sont juste merveilleuses 🖤🌿
Alt : diverses pages du livre, illustrations de lichens et nuancier des teintes obtenues via les pigments de ces lichens.
Alt : diverses pages du livre, illustrations de lichens et nuancier des teintes obtenues via les pigments de ces lichens.
November 10, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Sinon les illustrations d'Acharius Erich sont juste merveilleuses 🖤🌿
Alt : diverses pages du livre, illustrations de lichens et nuancier des teintes obtenues via les pigments de ces lichens.
Alt : diverses pages du livre, illustrations de lichens et nuancier des teintes obtenues via les pigments de ces lichens.
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Delightful detail from the Roman “unswept floor” mosaic by Heraclitus, showing a mouse nibbling a walnut.
Superb use of darker tiles for subtle shadow effect!
2nd century AD. Vatican Museums www.museivaticani.va/content/muse...
#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology
Superb use of darker tiles for subtle shadow effect!
2nd century AD. Vatican Museums www.museivaticani.va/content/muse...
#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology
November 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Delightful detail from the Roman “unswept floor” mosaic by Heraclitus, showing a mouse nibbling a walnut.
Superb use of darker tiles for subtle shadow effect!
2nd century AD. Vatican Museums www.museivaticani.va/content/muse...
#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology
Superb use of darker tiles for subtle shadow effect!
2nd century AD. Vatican Museums www.museivaticani.va/content/muse...
#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Astronomers on Mt Athos studying the stars with astrolabes and quadrants
BL Add 24189; Sir John Mandeville, Illustrations for Mandeville's Travels; Bohemia; 15th century; f.15r
BL Add 24189; Sir John Mandeville, Illustrations for Mandeville's Travels; Bohemia; 15th century; f.15r
November 10, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Astronomers on Mt Athos studying the stars with astrolabes and quadrants
BL Add 24189; Sir John Mandeville, Illustrations for Mandeville's Travels; Bohemia; 15th century; f.15r
BL Add 24189; Sir John Mandeville, Illustrations for Mandeville's Travels; Bohemia; 15th century; f.15r
Please forgive me, but these are papas wrinklies – a culinary speciality in Tenerife apparently. The name made me laugh till i wept, because I'm so juvenile. They are small waxy potatoes, boiled in salted water until it's all evaporated. They fit very nicely in the palm of a gal's hand. (guffaws.)
November 10, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Please forgive me, but these are papas wrinklies – a culinary speciality in Tenerife apparently. The name made me laugh till i wept, because I'm so juvenile. They are small waxy potatoes, boiled in salted water until it's all evaporated. They fit very nicely in the palm of a gal's hand. (guffaws.)
This is labelled Aloe castanea. it's in the Botanic Garden at Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, February 2017. Presumably the specific epithet makes reference to the fruits? These are pendant clusters, and look exactly as though they've been cast in pewter, such a beautiful patina and colour.
November 10, 2025 at 8:34 PM
This is labelled Aloe castanea. it's in the Botanic Garden at Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, February 2017. Presumably the specific epithet makes reference to the fruits? These are pendant clusters, and look exactly as though they've been cast in pewter, such a beautiful patina and colour.
Spanish Moss is such a romantic name. Tillandisa usneoides, in the wild, in Tenerife, February 2017.
long spiralling, ash-grey tendrils, like angel hair, remarkably weighty in its habitat, compared to the titchy things in cultivation in the cool temperate north.
long spiralling, ash-grey tendrils, like angel hair, remarkably weighty in its habitat, compared to the titchy things in cultivation in the cool temperate north.
November 10, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Spanish Moss is such a romantic name. Tillandisa usneoides, in the wild, in Tenerife, February 2017.
long spiralling, ash-grey tendrils, like angel hair, remarkably weighty in its habitat, compared to the titchy things in cultivation in the cool temperate north.
long spiralling, ash-grey tendrils, like angel hair, remarkably weighty in its habitat, compared to the titchy things in cultivation in the cool temperate north.
Aloe kumara plicatilis. plicatus means pleated, which refers to the arrangement of the leaves. The long-tubed flowers are an intense scarlet-vermilion. February 2017, in the botanic Garden at Puerto de la Cruz. Before times.
November 10, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Aloe kumara plicatilis. plicatus means pleated, which refers to the arrangement of the leaves. The long-tubed flowers are an intense scarlet-vermilion. February 2017, in the botanic Garden at Puerto de la Cruz. Before times.
perhaps you're in need of some vibrant colour? perhaps this Erythrina speciosa will serve? from the Botanic Garden in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, 2017. From the before times.
it looks like a starburst of vermilion, of satisfyingly substantial texture.
🌱
it looks like a starburst of vermilion, of satisfyingly substantial texture.
🌱
November 10, 2025 at 8:14 PM
perhaps you're in need of some vibrant colour? perhaps this Erythrina speciosa will serve? from the Botanic Garden in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, 2017. From the before times.
it looks like a starburst of vermilion, of satisfyingly substantial texture.
🌱
it looks like a starburst of vermilion, of satisfyingly substantial texture.
🌱
this is an extrusion of basaltic lava, below Mount Teide on Tenerife. It looks as though it has burst out under considerable pressure when molten, then assumed these fabulous geometric forms. It's populated by flora that is frustratingly out of reach. From the before times, February 2017.
November 10, 2025 at 8:09 PM
this is an extrusion of basaltic lava, below Mount Teide on Tenerife. It looks as though it has burst out under considerable pressure when molten, then assumed these fabulous geometric forms. It's populated by flora that is frustratingly out of reach. From the before times, February 2017.
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Every museum object is important but these are the cultural soul of Amgueddfa Cymru / National Museum of Wales. A representation of the beating heart of a nation.
Search continues for Bronze Age artefacts stolen from St Fagans - BBC News share.google/9qJAUhEXkXo6...
Search continues for Bronze Age artefacts stolen from St Fagans - BBC News share.google/9qJAUhEXkXo6...
Search continues for Bronze Age artefacts stolen from St Fagans - BBC News
Two men have been charged with burglary, but "invaluable" items are still missing from St Fagans collection.
share.google
November 10, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Every museum object is important but these are the cultural soul of Amgueddfa Cymru / National Museum of Wales. A representation of the beating heart of a nation.
Search continues for Bronze Age artefacts stolen from St Fagans - BBC News share.google/9qJAUhEXkXo6...
Search continues for Bronze Age artefacts stolen from St Fagans - BBC News share.google/9qJAUhEXkXo6...
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Long, frass-packed leaf mine on Carpinus betulus, doesn’t readily key out via bladmineerders.nl - any guidance out there?
November 10, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Long, frass-packed leaf mine on Carpinus betulus, doesn’t readily key out via bladmineerders.nl - any guidance out there?
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
OK, I have set up a Substack and posted an article there going into much more detail about Francis Crick and the poet Michael McClure. If the link between science and art is your thing, or you just like psychedelic poetry, have a read:
The Powerful Knowledge: How the Poetry of Michael McClure Influenced the Scientist Francis Crick
In July 1959, the co-discoverer of the DNA double helix, Francis Crick, took a psychedelic trip on peyote through the power of poetry.
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:34 PM
OK, I have set up a Substack and posted an article there going into much more detail about Francis Crick and the poet Michael McClure. If the link between science and art is your thing, or you just like psychedelic poetry, have a read:
In Svenska lafvarnas färghistoria: Johan Peter Westring,
Stockholm, 1805
A guide to Swedish lichens & their uses, with charts showing the dyes that they yield. Westring (1753–1833), was the king's physician, a botanist and lichenologist.
Lichen saxatilis: Linnean name, now invalid
Stockholm, 1805
A guide to Swedish lichens & their uses, with charts showing the dyes that they yield. Westring (1753–1833), was the king's physician, a botanist and lichenologist.
Lichen saxatilis: Linnean name, now invalid
November 10, 2025 at 6:42 PM
In Svenska lafvarnas färghistoria: Johan Peter Westring,
Stockholm, 1805
A guide to Swedish lichens & their uses, with charts showing the dyes that they yield. Westring (1753–1833), was the king's physician, a botanist and lichenologist.
Lichen saxatilis: Linnean name, now invalid
Stockholm, 1805
A guide to Swedish lichens & their uses, with charts showing the dyes that they yield. Westring (1753–1833), was the king's physician, a botanist and lichenologist.
Lichen saxatilis: Linnean name, now invalid
Conditions must have been good at pollination time, the Holly, Ilex aquifolium, has branches tightly packed with glossy, bright red berries. As my nan would have said, harbinger of hard winter, a winter feast for the birds in any event ...
@lacharpenta.bsky.social
@lacharpenta.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Conditions must have been good at pollination time, the Holly, Ilex aquifolium, has branches tightly packed with glossy, bright red berries. As my nan would have said, harbinger of hard winter, a winter feast for the birds in any event ...
@lacharpenta.bsky.social
@lacharpenta.bsky.social
Iris foetidissima, Stinking Iris, as the seed capsule ripens, it splits to reveal glowing scarlet seeds.
🌱
🌱
November 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Iris foetidissima, Stinking Iris, as the seed capsule ripens, it splits to reveal glowing scarlet seeds.
🌱
🌱
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Two-day-old zebrafish larvae, as seen through a scanning electron microscope
November 6, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Two-day-old zebrafish larvae, as seen through a scanning electron microscope
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Members of the Mid-Yorks Fungus Group found a large patch of the aromatic resupinate fungus Mycoacia nothofagi on the vertical side of a beech stump. I initially picked up the smell of coconut but I later detected pineapple and other notes that I don't know how to describe.
November 10, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Members of the Mid-Yorks Fungus Group found a large patch of the aromatic resupinate fungus Mycoacia nothofagi on the vertical side of a beech stump. I initially picked up the smell of coconut but I later detected pineapple and other notes that I don't know how to describe.
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Mary Cynthia Dickerson was the 1st curator of herpetology at @amnh.org. She authored "The Frog Book" (1906), describing North American toads & frogs. Explore it in #BHLib thanks to the @uoftlibraries.bsky.social Robarts Library: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31830673 #HerNaturalHistory #HERpers 🐸
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Mary Cynthia Dickerson was the 1st curator of herpetology at @amnh.org. She authored "The Frog Book" (1906), describing North American toads & frogs. Explore it in #BHLib thanks to the @uoftlibraries.bsky.social Robarts Library: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31830673 #HerNaturalHistory #HERpers 🐸
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Good morning and welcome to a new week!
Our featured Spanish tour of the week is Spring Butterflies of Andalusia - a chance to enjoy a mouth-watering array of special butterflies rare or absent elsewhere in Europe. (1/2)
mariposanature.com/tours/butter...
@europebutterfly.bsky.social
Our featured Spanish tour of the week is Spring Butterflies of Andalusia - a chance to enjoy a mouth-watering array of special butterflies rare or absent elsewhere in Europe. (1/2)
mariposanature.com/tours/butter...
@europebutterfly.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Good morning and welcome to a new week!
Our featured Spanish tour of the week is Spring Butterflies of Andalusia - a chance to enjoy a mouth-watering array of special butterflies rare or absent elsewhere in Europe. (1/2)
mariposanature.com/tours/butter...
@europebutterfly.bsky.social
Our featured Spanish tour of the week is Spring Butterflies of Andalusia - a chance to enjoy a mouth-watering array of special butterflies rare or absent elsewhere in Europe. (1/2)
mariposanature.com/tours/butter...
@europebutterfly.bsky.social
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Yeah, but BBC, Donald Trump....
Revealed: The billion-pound PPE contractor with a Tory MP on site
Special report: Uniserve was paid £1.4bn for Covid contracts that included supply of £178.5m in never-used equipment
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Yeah, but BBC, Donald Trump....
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
NEW ESSAY: The Story No. 8 | Fieldwork – The Linnaean Way | Writing and Drawing during Naturalist Journeys: Part 2. www.ikfoundation.org/itextilis/th...
November 10, 2025 at 7:11 AM
NEW ESSAY: The Story No. 8 | Fieldwork – The Linnaean Way | Writing and Drawing during Naturalist Journeys: Part 2. www.ikfoundation.org/itextilis/th...
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Didymium melanospermum with a pin for scale. The slime-mould was found on a beech log at the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield.
November 9, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Didymium melanospermum with a pin for scale. The slime-mould was found on a beech log at the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield.
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
Reposted by Lin Hawthorne
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️