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by Deb Shaw
Gilly Shaeffer, Strelitzia nicolai, watercolor on paper © 2015, all rights reserved.
The Santa Barbara Zoo will be hosting an opening reception for the “Zoo in Bloom” exhibition, in conjunction with the gala celebrating Santa Barbara Zoo Members’ Day. The celebration runs from 9:00am – 5:00pm on Saturday, October 3, 2015.
BAGSC artists will be demonstrating throughout the day in the gardens and will staff an information table to answer any questions about our exhibit and about BAGSC and ASBA.
You do not need to be in the exhibition to volunteer — the more BAGSC members the merrier! Please let Lori Vreeke know when you would like to volunteer and what you would like to do.
Sign up for as many time slots as you would like. Want to carpool to Santa Barbara? Call or email Lori to let her know and to find out who else is coming up from your area.
The Santa Barbara Zoo is located at:
500 Ninos Drive
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
(805) 962-5339 main
(805) 962-6310 info line
zooinfo@sbzoo.org
by Deb Shaw
Medicinal plant map of the United States of America, David Rumsey Map Collection, 1932. Author: National Wholesale Druggists’ Association, Edwin Newcomb. Publisher: Einson-Freeman Co., Inc., New York.
The year 1932 was a year of transition for the pharmacy industry. Historically, medicines had been compounded from plants. Botanical gardens and botanical art had originated with physicians describing diseases and the plants and other natural compounds used to treat and cure them. In the 1930’s however, pharmaceutical companies began to explore new synthetic drugs in the lab with increasing success.
The National Wholesale Druggists’ Association responded by producing a map of medicinal plants and highlighting their knowledge and skills in using them. Botanical illustrations of medicinal plants are shown as a border for the map, as well as in each of the States (minus Alaska and Hawaii) where they grow or are cultivated. Each illustration is accompanied with the Latin name and a description of the plant’s medicinal use.
The text in the lower right corner explains:
“It is important that the public does not lose sight of the fact that the professions of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Dentistry, each give an essential service, which must not be impaired or destroyed by commercial trends. The public and the professions will suffer equally if these services are allowed to deteriorate.
In pharmacy the public should understand something of the breadth of knowledge required of the pharmacist. Few people realize the extent to which plants and minerals enter into the practice of pharmacy, and how vital they are to the maintenance of public health. It has been stated that upwards of 70 per cent of all medicines employed are the products of plants. The more important vegetable drugs are obtained from about two hundred different plants which grow natively in different parts of the world. …”
More information is available in the Slate article by Rebecca Onion, “A Depression-Era Medicinal Plant Map of the United States.” The map is available for download (including in a high-resolution format) and prints are available for sale on the David Rumsey Map Collection site.
Thank you to the GNSI member that posted the link to this map, and my apologies for not being able to find the original post so I could locate your name and give you proper credit!
by Deb Shaw
File photo of the Bomb Squad, reproduced from the “LAObserved Native Intelligence” article, “A visit from the Bomb Squad,” by Nancy Boyarsky, published online Septemer 2, 2015, 12:33 am. See link in this article. © 2015 LAObserved.
BAGSC member Cynthia Jackson, sent an email the other day, asking “is this one of us?” with a link to an article in LAObserved: Native Intelligence, Observations by LA Observed authors and other Angelenos.
Titled, “A visit from the Bomb Squad,” (click on the title to read the article), I didn’t even glance at the byline and started reading right away. When I read the reference to botanical art at the end of the article, (no, I’m not going to give it away — you have to read the article), I scrolled quickly back to the top. Sure enough, it was written by Nancy Boyarsky!
For those of you who are newer BAGSC members, Nancy was one of our founding members, and served on the Board for many years handling Public Relations and Communications for BAGSC with her wonderful writing skills.
Cover of “The Swap: A Mystery” by Nancy Boyarsky, sold on Amazon.com
Nancy responded to my email that since leaving BAGSC, she’s written two mystery novels, now available on Amazon: The Swap: A Mystery and The Bequest: A Mystery, and is now working on her third book.
And yes, Nancy sent the article to the unnamed botanical artist responsible, and she and her family thought it was very funny.
Thank you Cynthia, and congrats Nancy!
Cover of “The Bequest: A Mystery” by Nancy Boyarsky, sold on Amazon.com
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