Virens (Latin for greening)
My profession: Landscape Designer and Nature Photographer
Location: New York City
My collection of botanical photos documents the individual characteristics of many species of New York City street trees and plants, including some weeds. In the tradition of botanical illustration of the 1800s, I have titled each image with genus and species names so that they have educational as well as aesthetic value.
My full collection of 1,000 images documenting 100 species can be found on flickr at http://bit.ly/virens
If you are interested, please email me a request to import more images into QOOP for creating prints and posters. virensviridis@gmail.com. Thank you.
My images are either:
2592 x 1944 px 8.6" x 6.5" (300 dpi); or 2448 x 3264 px 8.2" x 10.9" (300 dpi);
PLANTS AS ECOLOGICAL THREATS:
Many of the descriptions of my images are concerned with the ecological threat that many alien and/or invasive species have to our region, the Lower Hudson Valley of New York State. You may pursue further reading on each invasive species under the links I have provided, mostly from this source: Plant Conservation Alliance's Alien Plant Working Group www.nps.gov/plants/ALIEN/fact.htm
It is important to note that many of these invasive species can be purchased from plenty of mail order nurseries on the web, where they are sold especially for their attractiveness. It is our custodial responsibility as landscape architects to recognize these threats by sight.
SPECIAL THANKS:
I would like to thank my two teachers who lent me their knowledge and inspiration on countless walking tours in pursuit of plant identification. Kenneth Kammeyer, CLARB, has been a UCLA Extension Landscape Architecture teacher for 30 years. He led us to many parks and nature preserves in Palm Desert, Encinitas, La Canada, Arcadia and Santa Barbara, California. Professor Jess Hanks, Botanist, City College of New York, died of cancer in 2001. He led us through the wilderness of Van Cortlandt Park, Inwood Hill Park and Central Park and described the ecological and Native American history of these areas as well as the plants while he was in chemotherapy. Happy memories of both those bearded men were often with me while I traipsed through the woods of New York City with my camera.
I would also like to thank the knowledgeable horticulture staff at Wave Hill Public Garden in Riverdale, New York for taking the time to help me to identify plants by name.
