Classification of Fruits

This poster simplifies the major fruit groups and terminology involved in botanical fruit classification. It provides an overview and beautiful samples of fruit types, and especially clarifies the relationship between simple, aggregate, and multiple fruits.

Specializations in Flowers

An introduction to flower terminology is necessary to begin identification of plants via their flowers. This poster illustrates basic flower parts and shows how they become specialized within several common plant families. Especially helpful are illustrations of grass, rush and sedge flowers.

Carnivorous Plants

Snap traps, vacuums, drowning vats, flypaper and pitfalls are some of the designs used by carnivorous plants to trap animal prey. This poster illustrates the many structures, and beauty, of the "meat-eaters" of the botanical world.

Pollination and Pollinators

Flowering plants are intimately tied to wind, water, and especially animals to make seeds and complete their life cycles. Showy flowers, big and small, owe their size, shape, perfume and color to the preferences of critters; insects especially may share any number of blooms from different plant species. This poster illustrates the kaleidoscopic diversity of both the flowers and their pollinators (the astute observer will note that bumblebees love blue).

Plant Modifications

This poster makes a nice companion to Specializations in Plants. Here we illustrate both common and unusual structures, formed from leaves, stems and roots, which plants have devised to cope with their environments. Learn the many origins of tendrils, the difference between tubers, corms, bulbs and rhyzomes, even find little loaves of "bread" that a tree makes for its companion ants.

Plant Colors

And we mean colors! The four main classes of plant pigments are described and illustrated with lovely examples. Short discussions explain how plants can exhibit multiple colors, how leaves turn color in autumn, and why colors are important indicators of nutritional content in fruits and veggies.

The Annotated Big Bucky. This "biographical" poster recounts the events of the historic arum bloom, as well as depicting the plant's growth stages and anatomy.

Life Cycle of the Titan Arum. This poster clarifies the events in the life of the titan arum, whose leaf-or-flower cycle is often confusing to the non-expert. Concept by M. Fayyaz.