In Herbarium Amoris, Swedish photographer Edvard Koinberg photographs plants named by Carl von Linné (Linnaeus). Inspired by Linnaeus’s poetic descriptions of plant sexuality, Koinberg designed a project to bring attention to plants and their reproductive features.
Swedish crime writer, Henning Mankell, and Swedish science professor, Tore Frangsmyr, contribute to Herbarium Amoris. In their respective essays, Mankell and Frangsmyr explain how Linnaeus recruited help from scouts and students who traveled throughout the world to send him plants. They explain that, before Linnaeus created a new way of classifying plants, plants were organized by color, size, flower type, and fruit. However during a time when plant exploration was booming, new discoveries did not fit into existing categories. This prompted Linnaeus to create a new way of organizing plants.
Frangsmyr explains how Linnaeus spent time thinking about the sexuality of plants and how his thoughts lead to his publication about classification systems in nature (Systema Naturae). In Systema Naturae, Linnaeus describes a classification system dividing plants into 24 groups according to the number and arrangement of their reproductive parts. His system was well-received and this new way of organizing plants, along with binary nomenclature (a naming convention assigning plants a 2-part name) established botany as a legitimate discipline.
In 1756, Linnaeus created a floral calendar (Calendarium Florae) in which he used flowers to reflect different time periods of a calendar year. Koinberg’s Herbarium Amoris was inspired by this calendar. Koinberg’s moving photographs are presented as one- and two-page spreads. His revealing images and enlightening plant descriptions encourage readers to reflect upon the seasons of the year and the plants with which we share our planet.
Koinberg’s photographs are arranged as follows:
- Glacialis – Reviving Winter Month (December 13)
- Regelations – Thawing Month (March 19)
- Germinations – Budding Month (April 12)
- Frondescentiae – Leafing Month (May 9)
- Florescentiae – Flowering Month (May 25)
- Grossificationis – Fruiting Month (June 20)
- Maturationis – Ripening Month (July 16)
- Messis – Reaping Month (August 4)
- Exsolationis – Sowing Month (August 28)
- Defoliationis – Shedding Month (September 22)
- Congelationis – Freezing Month (October 28)
- Brumalis – Declining Winter Months (November 5)
To view publisher’s images, click here.
Herbarium Amoris (Floral Romance) is available at ArtPlantae Books for $39.95. This title ships for free through October 31, 2010!
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