There are groundbreaking biodiversity works that most of us are familiar with, including Systema Naturae and On the Origin of Species. Then there are other works that, though just as monumental for their impact on scientific knowledge, are less universally known than others. One such book is Anatomy of Plants, a seventeenth century work by Nehemiah Grew.

Many people have probably never heard of this work, and most probably have no idea what contribution it made to scientific discovery. Grew’s masterpiece, however, is significant not just because it depicts the first microscopic descriptions of pollen, but also because it is the first publication to note that a plant’s stamen is a male organ, with pollen as the seed. In fact, this work earned Grew, who was given the title “The Father of Plant Physiology,” the distinction of being one of the most celebrated scientists of the seventeenth century, and, together with Malpighi, he is considered the co-founder of plant anatomy.

Anatomy of Plants, published in 1682, was divided into four books, entitled Anatomy of Vegetables Begun, Anatomy of Roots, Anatomy of Trunks, and Anatomy of Leaves, Flowers, Fruits and Seeds. The work was largely a collection of Grew’s previous publications, many of which were presented to the Royal Society in the 1670s. Within the work, Grew describes the key differences between the morphology of stem and root, and, as previously mentioned, details the microscopic characteristics of pollen and hypothesized that stamen are the male organs of plants.

Despite the critical importance of the discoveries presented in this work, what is more likely to draw your attention to Grew’s Anatomy are the 82 exquisite engravings contained within. The illustrations depict in unprecedented detail the internal subtleties of roots, stems, tree trunks, and, not least of all, seeds. We’ve presented a few of our favorites in this post, but be sure to check out the entire collection on our Flickr account.

In 2006, a copy of Anatomy of Plants sold at auction for $7,557, nearly $5,000 over the estimate. Fortunately, you don’t have to have the budget of a used car to enjoy this work. As you’ve come to expect, it’s freely available in beautiful high resolution quality from the Biodiversity Heritage Library (in fact, it’s title #4 in BHL!). So be sure to spend some time with this title and add it to your repertoire of critical natural history works. It deserves to be among the Greats, keeping Darwin and Linnaeus company.

This week, we’re proud to feature Anders Hagborg, an associate at the Field Museum with an academic background in theoretic and applied physics. Though his professional career centered on information technology, he took up an interest in botany after retirement and currently applies this newfound passion to work at the Field Museum. As an additional note of interest, Anders grew up, studied and worked in Sweden until moving to Chicago in 1985.

What is your title, institutional affiliation (or alternative place of employment), and area of interest?

I am an (unpaid) associate at the Botany department at the Field Museum, Chicago. I work gathering data about liverworts and hornworts. I am part of a team that is producing a global checklist for these phyla.

How long have you been in your field of study?

Since 2005

When did you first discover BHL?

Probably in 2007 (It seems that I have always used it)

What is your opinion of BHL and how has it impacted your research?

It is one of the repositories that I frequently use. BHL is probably the most important one – the others are Reál Jardin Botanico, Madrid, Gallica (Bibliothéque numérique), Google books, and some others less frequently.

How often do you use BHL?

At least a few times every month – sometimes much more than that.

How do you usually use BHL (read the titles online/download whole PDFs/Selecting Pages to Download for a custom PDF/Downloading High Resolution Images/Generating Taxonomic Bibliographies/etc.)

Almost exclusively PDF download.

If you could change one thing about BHL, what would it be, or what developmental aspect would you like the BHL team to focus on next?

It would be great if BHL could include other repositories in the search so I don’t have to search Madrid, Gallica, Google books and other sites separately. I like the BHL feedback format better than the other ones, especially better than Google books, which doesn’t handle periodicals well.

If you had to choose one title/item in BHL that has most impacted your research, or one item that you prefer above any other in BHL, what would it be and why?

That is really not the way I look at it. I have accessed and used several hundred different items at BHL and use many of them over and over again, but it does not make sense to single any of them out.
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Thank you, Anders, for taking the time to share some of your professional life with us. We appreciate feedback from our users, as we repeatedly use it to improve our services and guide our developmental priorities.

Learn more about Anders’ passions, liverworts (Marchantiophyta) and hornworts (Anthocerotophyta), in EOL, and check out this lovely illustration of liverworts from Kunstformen der Natur in BHL:

Today, we are excited to present Joachim Ladwig, a fossil collector in Germany with a passion for marine vertebrates. Though an amateur researcher, he has published a myriad of papers in amateur journals and holds among his repertoire of fossil finds the remains of a plesiosaur!

What is your title, institutional affiliation (or alternative place of employment), and area of interest?

I have no title or institutional affiliation! I work as a caretaker for a housing company in northern Germany and operate only as an amateur researcher.

I was born in 1962 and live in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. I’m a member of the “Gesellschaft für Geschiebekunde” (Society for Glacial Erratic Boulders), a cooperation of scientists (mainly from the Universities of Hamburg and Greifswald) and amateur collectors researching erratic boulders, which are the most important source of fossils in northern Germany.

How long have you been in your field of study?

I have been collecting fossils for more than 20 years. Soon after I began collecting, I undertook research (as an amateur) on fossil marine vertebrates, mainly from the Cretaceous period. One field of interest is sea-urchins, but I am especially interested in sharks and bony fish and their main fossil remains: teeth.

Some years ago I found the remains of a very great plesiosaur in a chalk-pit here in northern Germany. Since then I have been looking for literature on marine reptiles (mosasaurs and plesiosaurs), too.

When did you first discover BHL?

I think it was about 2 or 3 years ago, when I used Google to search for pdf-files of scientific papers on the internet.

What is your opinion of BHL and how has it impacted your research?

Because it was often very difficult to get old literature (and when you get it photocopied from your library the quality of the picture is miserable), it’s a great improvement to have access to pdf-files of these antique papers. To determine, for example, which species of fossil shark a find belongs to, it is necessary to take a look at the original descriptions. When you don’t have direct access to a university library, BHL is sometimes the only way to see these publications!

One concrete example: For 20 years I tried to find out which species the cow shark teeth in the northern German chalk belong to – Hexanchus microdon or Hexanchus gracilis. In BHL I found the original papers in which these species where described. Now I am very sure of the identification: My fossil cow shark teeth belong to Hexanchus microdon.

How often do you use BHL?

Several times a month.

How do you usually use BHL (read the titles online/download whole PDFs/Selecting Pages to Download for a custom PDF/Downloading High Resolution Images/Generating Taxonomic Bibliographies/etc.)

Generally, I download the whole pdf-file. I even print important papers. It’s not comfortable for me to read on the monitor; I prefer to read it on a piece of paper!

In the last years I have collected a whole hard-disk-drive of pdf files. They are not all from BHL, but many of the important and/or old ones are.

If you could change one thing about BHL, what would it be, or what developmental aspect would you like the BHL team to focus on next?

Very often I find that whole volumes of a journal are scanned as one file, but usually I only need one short paper. So I have to download an immense amount of data (806 pages!), while I cite only a small portion of it (for example, the work I cite in the next paragraph). It would be very useful to divide these big scans into smaller ones!

If you had to choose one title/item in BHL that has most impacted your research, or one item that you prefer above any other in BHL, what would it be and why?

I had looked for a long time for this paper:

“DAVIS, J.W. (1887): The fossil fishes of the Chalk of Mount Lebanon, in Syria. – The Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, 3 (Series 2): 457 – 636, Taf. 14 – 38; Dublin”

I found it at BHL.

It contains the original description of Hexanchus gracilis, a species of cow shark, which is often found in the upper cretaceous layers in northern Europe. I was trying to find out if it is a valid species or not. The plates in this work are very beautiful. They are not only of scientific interest, but are an art, too. I’m very pleased that I can use a reproduction from one of these plates for a planned publication.

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Thank you, Joachim, for your contribution to the scientific realm and your willingness to share some of it with us! We are aware that article-level access to our content is a critical development for BHL, as it is one of our most user-requested improvements. We are currently working on models that will allow this level of access, but for the time-being you can find many BHL articles in our article repository Citebank.

Be sure to check out a bibliography of some of Joachim Ladwig’s publications below. We’re thrilled to know that BHL is helping him, and many others, identify and learn more about the fossilized remains of the magnificent biodiversity that lived ages ago.

A list of Joachim Ladwig’s former publications in amateur journals:

• CLAUßEN, M. & LADWIG, J. (1997): Das Kieferfragment eines Mosasauriers aus dem Obercampan von Kronsmoor. – Der Geschiebesammler, 30 (3): 127 – 130, 3 Abb.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (1993): Fund eines Zahnes von Hexanchus gracilis. – Der Geschiebesammler, 26 (4): 161 – 163, 2 Abb.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (1994): Haizähne aus Oberkreide- und Dan-Geschieben. – Der Geschiebesammler, 27 (3): 105 – 110, 4 Abb.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (1995): Haizähne aus dem Obercampan von Kronsmoor. – Der Geschiebesammler, 28 (4): 143 – 152, 9 Abb.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (1997): Mosasaurierreste aus Schleswig-Holstein. – Fossilien, 1997 (6): 358 – 362, 8 Abb., 1 Zeichn.; Korb.

• LADWIG, J. (1998): Fischreste aus dem Echinodermenkonglomerat. – Der Geschiebesammler, 31 (4): 177 – 186, 3 Abb., 1 Taf.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (2000a): Haizähne aus dem Obercampan von Kronsmoor. Teil 2. – Der Geschiebesammler, 33 (2): 77 – 90, 3 Abb., 3 Taf.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (2000b): Fischzähne aus dem Obercampan von Kronsmoor. – Der Geschiebesammler, 33 (3): 125 – 130, 4 Abb.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (2002): Möglicher Neufund von Protoxynotus misburgiensis HERMAN 1975. – Arbeitskreis Paläontologie Hannover, 30 (2): 36 – 41, 1 Abb.; Hannover.

• LADWIG, J. (2003): Erstnachweis eines Zahnes von Ptychodus latissimus AGASSIZ 1843 aus dem Geschiebe. – Der Geschiebesammler, 36 (2): 43 – 46, 1 Abb.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (2006a): Haizähne aus dem Turonium von Wüllen. – Arbeitskreis Paläontologie Hannover, 34 (1): 1 – 9, 12 Abb.; Hannover.

• LADWIG, J. (2006b): Fundbericht: Haizahn Cretolamna appendiculata aus Misburg. – Arbeitskreis Paläontologie Hannover, 34 (1): 10 – 11, 1 Abb.; Hannover.

• LADWIG, J. (2008): Reste des rätselhaften kreidezeitlichen Fisches Cylindracanthus cretaceus (DIXON, 1850) aus Kronsmoor (Schleswig-Holstein). – Arbeitskreis Paläontologie Hannover, 36 (1): 12 – 22, 7 Abb.; Hannover.

• LADWIG, J. (2009): Anmerkungen zur Seeigel-Gattung Bolbaster aus dem Danium von Dänemark. – Der Geschiebesammler, 42 (4): 165 – 173, 2 Abb., 2 Taf.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (2011a): Erstnachweis des Haies Gladioserratus aptiensis (PICTET, 1865) (Neoselachii, Hexanchiformes) aus der nordwestdeutschen Oberkreide. – Arbeitskreis Paläontologie Hannover, 39 (3): 99 – 104, 3 Abb.; Hannover.

• LADWIG, J. (2011b): Der seltene Seeigel Galeaster bertrandi SEUNES, 1889 aus einem Dan-Geschiebe von Norderbrarup. – Der Geschiebesammler, 44 (2): 47 – 51, 1 Abb., 1 Taf.; Wankendorf.

• LADWIG, J. (2012): Eine Exkursion ins Maastrichtium und Danium der Insel Seeland, Dänemark. – Arbeitskreis Paläontologie Hannover, 40 (1): 3 – 12, 9 Abb.; Hannover.

• TÜXEN, H. & LADWIG, J. (1998): Ein Mosasaurierzahn aus einem weißgefleckten Feuerstein. – Der Geschiebesammler, 31 (3): 137 – 141, 2 Abb.; Wankendorf.

Some publications available for free download:

• http://www.shark-references.com/images/meine_bilder/downloads/ladwig%202006%20-%20haizhne%20aus%20turonium%20wllen.pdf

• http://www.shark-references.com/images/meine_bilder/downloads/ladwig%202002%20-%20neufund%20protoxynotus.pdf

Roaming through the woods and hills of Eastern Europe 500-600 years ago, you would have encountered a deluge of enchanting creatures capable of captivating the mind and heart. Sadly, today many of these wondrous creatures are extinct, including Equus Einhorn and Draconis Nobilis. Though you may no longer chance upon them in the midst of a serene moonlight stroll, these species will live on forever in BHL. Through the bewitching description of E. einhorn, penned by Marco Polo, and the amalgamation of the collective knowledge on D. Nobilis (as of the mid-1600s), preserved for the benefit of posterity by James Rawlins, Duke of Chesham, in his 1689 work Unique Creatures of Eastern Europe, you can once again experience the wonder of the natural world in ways unknown to humankind since the Middle Ages. We celebrate this literary treasure by highlighting the aforementioned species’ excerpts from Rawlins’ work in this post, and we encourage you to explore the entire work in BHL to learn more about the amazing creatures now lost to earth but not to memory.