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A number of BHL staff attended the 6th Annual Global Plant Initiative (GPI) meeting (January 7-11, 2013) in Panama City, Panama. Hosted by the Smithsonian’s Tropical Research Institute, the meeting brought together close to 200 participants in the GPI from a truly global contingent of participants.

For this week’s BHL Book of the Week, I’d like to highlight a book that is all about one of my favorite plant species, Humulus lupulus, better known as hops.

Imagine away the accumulated knowledge of the past 250 years. Forget that there is such a thing as a field guide. Let google vanish from memory.

And put yourself into the forest primeval of southeastern North America on a warm summer night in the middle of the eighteenth century. Above the rasping of the cicadas and the creaking of the tree crickets, beyond the yowls and hoots and delicate whistles of the owls, you hear the strange syncopated whistles of what has to be a bird.

But which one?

We hope you’re having a marvelous time celebrating the Holidays today! We wanted to do something fun and different for our Christmas post. So, we decided to present (pun intended!) you with your own truly biodiverse BHL Christmas tree – with a twist!Our tree has been decorated with 15 species ornaments. Each species on the tree is identified by its common name. Below the tree is a list of 20 scientific names. All 15 of the species on the tree are listed among the binomials, as well as 5 that are not on the tree.Can you associate our ornaments with their scientific names? Simply click on the 15 binomials you believe are represented on the tree and hit “submit.” The subsequent results screen will tell you whether you’re a taxonomy master or beginner.