Manipulating Flora

I have apprehended with sadness the passing of John Dixon Hunt, a great scholar who expanded the study of garden and lanscape, opening new important avenues of research. Here a memory by @dumbartonoaks.bsky.social #gardens #histsci #landscape #botany #dumbartonoaks www.doaks.org/newsletter/i...

The Instructing Colonial Natural History Seminar Series is back and we have a stellar line up: @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social, 6 Oct; @cberiksen.bsky.social, 28 Oct; Jim Endersby, 25 Nov; and Ma. Mercedes G. Planta, 9 Dec. All seminars are on Zoom, 15-16 CET

New - and #OpenAccess - review! Botanical Icons: Critical Practices of Illustration in the Premodern Mediterranean. Andrew Griebeler. @uchicagopress.bsky.social, 2024. Reviewed by @fabribald.bsky.social for Renaissance Quarterly / @rsaorg.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

www.brepolsonline.net/content/book... fascinating new publication - a volume on images and institutions in the 17th and 18th centuries, edited by M. Jonker and K. Reinhart for @brepols.net with several things on plants, plant illustrations, and plant knowledge #planthistory

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... Fascinating article by Alain Touwaide and Emanuela Appetiti on Mattioli's Taxonomical Troubles in his Medical Botany #histmed #plantstudies #botany #renaissance #taxonomy #materiamedica #mattioli

📣There is still time to apply to either one of these cfp for next #RSA27 @rsaorg.bsky.social on #plantstudies🌿🌱🌳 The one is on #excrescences or bodies growing on/from/within plants #histsci - www.rsa.org/forms/FormRe... The second is on #CraftingNature #arthistory - www.rsa.org/forms/FormRe...

link.springer.com/collections/... My special issue - Life as we don't know it - is taking shape on History and Philosophy fo the Life Sciences Journal --- more is to come soon! #plantstudies #plantlife #histsci #histphilo #lifescience #nature #buffon #candolle

Today's episode is one of my favorites among recent topics: a look at the formal French garden, and its surprisingly intricate relationship to philosophy under Louis XIV! (Also look out for a fabulous pun about him.) www.historyofphilosophy.net/french-garden #philsky #gardens #philosophy #podcast

Nasturtium in Le règne végétal, 1870.

A new fascinating publication from Quentin Hiernaux on plants in the history of philosophy #plantstudies #plantphilosophy #plantlife #histphilo #histsci www.vrin.fr/livre/978271...

Snowdrops are native to Eastern Europe and had been associated with Candlemas (2nd February) as their flowering period coincides with the feast of the purification of the Virgin after childbirth. In 1596, London based botanist Gerard is the first one to mention them growing on English soil.

📣CFP HSS-ESHS 2026 joint conference - 13-16 July 2026 in Edinburg. Here attached, a proposal for a panel on "Artisans, Practitioners, and Instruments in the Making of Premodern Science" - share or send me an abstract #practices #labor #artisans #artifacts #instruments #hss Image from Agostino Gallo

My essay on the relationship between plant intelligence (and its history) and ecology - a message to politicians! #plantstudies #plantintelligence #ecology #environmentalstudies #philo #histsci #ConEnvHist www.indiscreto.org/lintelligenz...

Join us in Rome or online for a seminar on plant illustrations on 6 November! 🪴🌻🌿 Through images of mandrakes and ferns, @fabribald.bsky.social and I will be discussing issues in the role of images in early modern botany. www.biblhertz.it/events/43483...

Epistemic Practices and Plant Classification in Premodern European Botanical Knowledge: An Interdisciplinary Treatment Edited By @fabribald.bsky.social is now available in the new warehouse - www.routledge.com/Epistemic-Pr... The ebook is on sale for US $42.74

November 29th, I take part in this very promising seminar at ENS in Paris on the intersections of plant and cultural studies in the early modern time. #plantstudies #17thcentury #histsci #materialhistory I look very forward to this! I am in Paris from this Friday - happy to catch up with friends!

As a part of the EU-funded project led by @fabribald.bsky.social , this is a first event - Constructing the Environment #ConEnvHist on Monday 13th afternoon in Milan - speaking about practices and theories in premodern studies of nature #nature #histsci #histbotany #environment #environmentalhistory

Sumana Roy latest reflection on how the vegetal turn has influenced hindi cinema #vegetallife #plantstudies #vegetation

#Bluehistorians #Skystorians Happy to share this event, part of #ConEnvHist project on the environment♻️and botany🌿 In Milan, Oct13 with some great colleagues on practices and theories of knowledge. Attendance is free @sergiooe.bsky.social #environmentalstudies #environment #histsci #agriculture

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... a nice and attentive report of the symposium organized in Pisa for the 500th anniversary of #AndreaCesalpino #ortobotanico #Pisa by Lorenzo Peruzzi and his team #histbotany #histsci #philsci #botany #renaissancestudies

Vino🍷🍇: Agriculture, Medicine, Symbolism and Conviviality. For a Natural History of Wine in the Renaissance 🍾 My cfp for a panel at #RSA26 #RsaSanFrancisco #RSA2026 #HIstsci #histmed #histagriculture #arthistory Apply if interested - send me a short abstract www.rsa.org/forms/FormRe...

A less-known pharmacist is Bartolomeo Maranta - a former student of Luca Ghini - who worked with plants in Naples (in a garden of Giovan Vincenzo Pinelli) and published a fascinating Method on studying plants in 1559 --- several years before Cesalpino, but also Pena and Lobel #plantstudies #histsci

Let me also add that the volume is now available in paperback - www.bloomsbury.com/uk/andrea-ce...

📣 #bluestorians #skystorians Happy to share that on October 6th, 2025, I discuss my book on #Descartes with Dan Garber and Deb Brown - who are 2 of the major Cartesian scholars of our time - chair: Igor Agostini #17thcent #earlymodern #histphilo #individualbodies link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Next Early Modern Lab at NTU - organized by Dana Jalobeanu - features Gideon Manning on visualizing nature with text and image #visualizingknowledge #visualizingscience #illustrations #17thcentury

Next week, we welcome @stellasandford.bsky.social ‬(Kingston University) in our ROTO Lecture Series. She will reflect on John Dupré's #PhilBio and talk about "promiscuous realism" and plant individuality. Just register here to participate 👉 rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture... #HPBio #PhilSci

www.ortomuseobot.sma.unipi.it/iacs500-symp... 📣 Happy to be a keynote at the 500th anniversary of #AndreaCesalpino in Pisa -🌿I will provide some historical insights at a very nice conference on botanical systematics #histsci #plantstudies🌳 the history of plants matters in today's science🌱 Program⤵️

Epistemic Practices and Plant Classification in Premodern European Botanical Knowledge: An Interdisciplinary Treatment is a new book edited by @fabribald.bsky.social www.aup.nl/en/book/9789...

Video recording of The Vegetal Turn: A conversation with Marcello Di Paola held Jan 30, 2025. Sponsored by @theplantinitiative.bsky.social This was an online conversation with plant philosopher Marcello Di Paola about his new book on plants in the environmental humanities. youtu.be/sa5DXb1S6SM

Our next printmaker is Tom Scott whose prints focus on trees, the patterns in their rings and the beauty of their growth. If you are able to come along 15-17 Aug, Tom will enthuse you about his work and you can only admire the scale and focus of it. www.printmakersofscotland.com

I was reminded that the volume Vegetative Powers was published circa 4 years ago, presenting a deep discussion with the powers of plants and vegetation in a wide-array of philosophers #vegpowers #vegetation #manipulatingflora #plantstudies link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Congratulations to the editor of & contributors to Epistemic Practices & Plant Classification in Pre-Modern Botanical Knowledge: An Interdisciplinary Treatment Edited by @fabribald.bsky.social www.aup.nl/en/book/9789... It appears in the @amsterdamupress.bsky social series Scientiae Studies.

Thank you to @fabribald.bsky.social for saying hi! His book ‘Epistemic Practices and Plant Classification in Premodern European Botanical Knowledge’ uncovers the diverse approach to plants in the 17th century that paved the way for a definition of botany as a discipline. Find it on our #RSA stand 🍃

It’s always a joy to catch up with Catherine Powell-Warren, author of ‘Gender and Self-Fashioning at the Intersection of Art and Science’ Her impressive book recently won the First Book Prize at the SSEMWG book awards #RSA #earlymodsky

Hello Everyone, please join us at the Denbo Center virtually for @fabribald.bsky.social talk as part of our seminar series, Labour of Science. Register with the QR code below! Looking forward to seeing you all there!

The latest issue of @centaurus-bsky.bsky.social #Centaurus @brepols.bsky.social is out with an oa special issue on #NehemiahGrew, edited by Christoffer Basse Eriksen and Pamela Mackenzie - entitled: "Nehemiah Grew and the Making of the Anatomy of Plants".🌳🌱 www.brepolsonline.net/toc/cnt/2023...

Fascinating programme for the Colonial Natural History Seminar Series of Spring 2025

a nice event on February 21st (online at 5pm - Italy time), organized by Anatole Tchikine and Florike Egmond this is a new project,🌻Early Modern Botanical Knowledge Production🌱 in this event, Dr. Sabrina Minuzzi discusses "Materia medica between past and future" #Earlymodernbotanicalknowledge

Just published: a very generous review of the volume I edited,🍀 Plants in 16th and 17th century🌿, written by Jose-Pardo Tomas on Nuncius @manipulatingflora.bsky.social @degruyterbrill.bsky.social I am flattered!!! Hope you like it brill.com/view/journal...

Marcello Di Paolo discussing his recent research Vegetal Turn - an important addition to our understanding of the relationship between plants, nature and societies #plantinitiative #vegetalturn #plantstudies #plantethics www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa5D...

Hello! As everyone else is giving it a go, we thought we'd better dip our toe in too. We're here for all your natural history needs, especially where it intersects with culture, society and history 🌱📖🦋

Encounter itself was an author in this visual atlas of 17th/18th century Kongo & Angola created in the crosscurrents of European missionary activities and central African cosmopolitan societies @psupress.bsky.social 30% off 👉 NR24 #booksky #arthistory #africanhistory #earlymodern #skystorians

The problems begin if you have only vegetative soul and faculties... 😁

Thank you for joining the talk today! Our next speakers will be Marcy Norton (UPenn) and Fabrizio Baldassarri (Warburg/Villa I Tatti)—stay tuned! @guysechrist.bsky.social

Looking forward to reading the fantastic case studies in this edited volume! 🌱

Rappel : Denis Ribouillault, historien de l'art et spécialiste des jardins italiens, est l'invité du Moi(s) Montaigne. Et il se passe plein de choses. LeMoisMontaige@u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr centre-montaigne.huma-num.fr

#Bluehistorians My forthcoming volume (March'25) on the epistemic interactions between practices and the theoretical study of plants🌴 for @amsterdamupress.bsky.social #scientiae with many great colleagues and my introduction on the epistemic lightness of botany #plantstudies #histsci 🌳🌿

Some very good news! #NehemiahGrew #histsci #histbotany #plantstudies #17thcenturybotany @brepols.bsky.social

t.co/U713FgHitC A gorgeous essays on plant theory from Sumana Roy! #mustread #plantstudies #plantcognition #planttheory #manipulatingflora #vegetablephilo

📣 On October 23, I present my research in progress here @Warburg Institute (London) on places airs and waters at the crossroads between agriculture, cultivation and🍀plant🌳classification (practice&theory+ #environment in the #Renaissance #histsci #envhist for registration see below👇 t.co/9xuPCjaO1B