Chris Thorogood
@thorogoodchris1
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Botanist at Oxford University | Deputy Director of Oxford Botanic Garden | Artist | Author | Insta: @IllustratingBotanist | Views mine
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Joined December 2015
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As a botanist I get to study the world's most remarkable plants. Here are some I've encountered in Southeast Asia in the last two weeks:
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Worth every bite, leech and sting. Because I'm the happiest guy in the world right now.
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Today I saw jade vines growing wild on the slopes of Mount Makiling in the Philippines. What could be more beautiful?
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Eight years ago I raised you from a tadpole. Happy birthday Eloise 🥳
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Our giant waterlily (Victoria cruziana) has just sent out the largest leaf we've seen in years, spanning 2.27 metres.
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We've seen the world's largest flowers on this expedition into the Sumatran rainforest. Now for the strangest: a very rare flower called Rhizanthes deceptor, seen by few, and found only in this wilderness. Here they call it a star, and it lit up our day.
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Today we went up Mount Makiling, where the jade vine was first officially described. In its native habitat, the flowers hang from the canopy in bolts of electric blue, sometimes earthing themselves on the forest floor in a pool of colour.
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Climbed a mountain, climbed a tree, fell out of it: all to see this rare plant (Strongylodon elmeri), whose beauty surpasses the common jade vine. Its flowers hang like chandeliers from the branches, and shine blue through the clouds.
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The results of a ten year pitcher plant painting addiction:
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The Banao Tribe shared with me their magnificent flower: Rafflesia banoana. It is an honour to be the first ever Westerner to see it.
We macheted pathless forests, crossed rivers, got devoured by leeches. Worth it all: for this was most special botanical encounter of my life.
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Today we went to the hill forests in pursuit of a giant. Here is the colossal leaf of the titan arum in its native Sumatran rainforest. The leaf bud shoots up from the forest floor and by the time it unfurls, has the proportions of a small tree.
Magnificent.
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And here is the flower that rules them all: Rafflesia arnoldii.
Of the 41 Rafflesia species that grow across SE Asia, this one in the depths of the Sumatran rainforest has the greatest flowers, spanning a metre across.
This is the largest flower on earth.
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In an Indonesian rainforest ruled by monkeys and snakes, lurks a monstrous flower called Rafflesia patma. And look: today we found it.
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The strikingly beautiful undercarriage of one of the world's largest floating leaves.
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YES YES YES! We finally found the exceptionally rare Rafflesia banahawensis in bloom on the slopes of Mount Banahaw in the Philippines. This species has evaded me in the past. To see it in flower today was truly special.
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Did you know plants can count? Touch a carnivorous Venus flytrap once: nothing happens. Touch twice: the trap is sprung. This is a safeguard to ensure the trap doesn’t waste energy on non-prey items like falling leaves. Smart plant.
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I'm not an emotional person. But some moments change a life. Meeting Rafflesia kemumu today, in Sumatra's green heart, was one.
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Exciting! The 'sapphire tower' is now in bud. It hasn't flowered for two years - here is a photo from the same plant in 2018 - its impossibly blue flowers are definitely worth the wait...
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Today the foresters showed me how placing two jade vine flowers side by side creates a butterfly.
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A collection of broomrapes (and related plants) I've painted in the last 15 years in watercolour and oils. These plants lack green leaves so their colours really stand out, both in nature, and on canvas.
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Today we headed into the Sumatran wilderness to look for a titan and look: we found it. The titan atum is the world's largest unbranched inflorescence, and one of nature's greatest wonders. To see one in cultivation is a treat; but to see one in the wild is special.
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Completed tonight: an oil painting of some of the highland Nepenthes of northern Borneo.
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Deep in the forests of Kalinga, Philippines a few weeks ago, we saw these: fern croziers as thick as an arm, like thunderous snakes rearing up, out of the earth.
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Montages of some watercolour paintings of the Canary Island flora I've illustrated in the last couple of years.
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Oxford Botanic Garden today is too beautiful not to share.
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Not a tree my friends, A LEAF!
Amorphophallus titanum.
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Day two of the expedition in the Philippines and look what we just found: Rafflesia (the genus with the world's largest flowers).
To find one is the closest thing to magic.
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The bud of Rhizanthes flower rises from the warm wet earth like an alien's egg, then bursts open to reveal what looks for all the world like a writhing octopus:
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Also in Sumatra's rainforest, the Land of the Giants: pill millipedes - rather like woodlice the size of mice.
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Went to the coastal dunes of the north of the island today to find this: spectacular Cistanche phelypaea, a root parasite with no leaves or chlorophyll of its own. A vision of yellow, it bursts through the dunes after winter rains.
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At the start of the pandemic, I began a new series of watercolour illustrations depicting wild flowers of the Eastern Canary Islands, for a future book and exhibition. Three years on, here is a montage of about a third of them.
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The jungle is a place of wonder. Deep in the green heart of Sumatra on an expedition last November, we came across giant ferns unfolding into the sky.
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Today we went to a place ruled by nature to find a fallen star, and look: we found one:
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Today we set off at dawn for southern Sumatra. We took bikes, crossed rivers, and trekked deep into the wilderness to see this: Rafflesia arnoldii, officially the largest flower on earth. To spend time with this plant is the closest thing in this world to magic.
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An oil painting I completed a few years ago of a tropical orchid (Aeridostachya robusta) I saw in Borneo.
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I crammed as many of my nature paintings as I could into a single plate:
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A couple more photos of yesterday's extraordinary find in Sumatra - to remind us it was real!
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If you don't believe in magic, come see our jade vine.
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Can a flower make a man cry? This one can. When you've wrestled with the jungle for days, been tormented by it, then you meet with a work of nature like this: how couldn't it?
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Rafflesia arnoldii, the world's largest flower, smells of rotting meat to attract pollinating flies. And this one today was humming!
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Last month I was lucky to see a titan arum in full bloom in its native Sumatra. This is the world's largest unbranched inflorescence (i.e. flowering structure) and truly massive: rising up to 3 metres, it is a feat of botanical engineering, and a wonder of the natural world.
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Thanks so much for all the kind comments on the plate I've been working on. Here is the finished piece.
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We harvested giant Amazonian water lily leaves from the tropical pond today. Turn one over, and this is what you get: beauty without compare.
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Turned over the frond of a polypody fern today and found puddles of sunshine 🌞
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The last day in Sumatra and just look what we found. To see Rafflesia - even once, is special. To find four species in bloom as we have is extraordinary.
I feel the luckiest guy alive.
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A strange fungus I saw in the rainforests of the Philippines yesterday:
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A jade vine in its native Philippine rainforest. In the wild the racemes can get so long they reach the ground and shower the forest floor with sea-blue blossom.
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A montage of the watercolour paintings of Nepenthes pitcher plants I've done this year.
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A collection of aroids I've painted over the years.
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The interior structure of Rafflesia: one of the world's largest flowers, which I was so lucky to see this week, in the Philippines. Isn't it just the most extraordinary plant you've seen?
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We heard chainsaws in the distance as we admired this miracle of nature: the sound of a fast-approaching future. The guys here told me that of the 80 Rafflesia populations that were in central Bengkulu 10 years ago, only 20 remain. You're too special to lose: let's do better 🙏🏻
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Isn't he beautiful? (And he is a he, we sexed him). Rafflesia bengkuluensis: a rare and beautiful pale flowered-species from the rainforests of Sumatra.
This is a truly special find.
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Plants ooze out of earth and sky like liquid here.
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A magical forest of magpie inkcap mushrooms sprang up by the compost heap at the Botanic Garden this week.
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This is a rare Nazareth iris (I. bismarckiana) growing on a rocky ledge in the northern Galilee. No cultivated iris can compare with its intricate beauty.
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I'm sitting on a rocky shelf on Mount Teide with one of the great wonders of the plant world, Echium wildprettii, and it's in full bloom. Words can't describe how happy.
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A pair of jack-in-the-pulpits (Arisaema nepenthoides) I painted in oils, a few years ago, depicted on the hillsopes of the Himalayas.
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Various North European sea creatures I’ve illustrated over the years with oil paint on black backgrounds.
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The extraordinary 'spiral aloe' (Aloe polyphylla) produces leaves that can radiate either in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.
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Eloise, who I raised from a tadpole, is now over four years old. Isn't she beautiful?
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Sending flowers up into the sky: one of the most perfect desert hyacinths I ever saw.
Cistanche phelypaea, Lanzarote, 2020.
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An oil painting I've just completed of pitcher plants in the rain.
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A little montage of oil paintings depicting plants I've seen around the world, depicted in my latest book: Chasing Plants.
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Today I went to the north of the island to find one of the most astonishingly beautiful plants I know: desert hyacinth (Cistanche phelypaea). A leafless parasite, it lacks chlorophyll, and lives at the expense of other plants.
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Some of the Orobanchaceae I've illustrated in pen and ink over the years.
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Last night I stayed awake to watch a dream unfold:
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Today my colleague Finn and I filled giant water lily leaves to measure their strength and capacity. This medium-sized one held thirty litres of water.
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An oil painting I've just completed of Rafflesia growing in the rainforests of Mount Makiling, the Philippines.
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Rafflesia banahawensis: a truly special find today in the Philippines:
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My latest plate, finished at last: an oil painting of the arums (and relatives) of Crete.
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Perfectly camouflaged Tanaecia caterpillar seen today, hiding in the rainforests of the Sierra Madre in the Philippines.
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A montage of some of my oil and watercolour paintings featuring irises and orchids.
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My latest illustration just completed: Iris reichenbachii growing at the foot of Mount Olympus, Greece. I happened across this beautiful plant in a rainstorm, growing in a stony field.
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Rafflesia panchoana, quietly sending out miracles, in a place no one goes:
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The inner workings of a miracle: a rare glimpse into the interior of Rafflesia arnoldii, the world's largest flower, seen today in Sumatra.
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Oil paintings of rare Indonesian Rafflesia species I've completed this morning:
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Over the years I've painted all sorts of plant and animal life in watercolour and oils. Here is a small selection.
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With special permission, I was the first person outside of the Philippines to trek Mount Kemalugong: patrolled by Philippine eagles, this is a place no botanist had set foot in before. It was such an honour to be allowed to visit. Thank you to my wonderful Filipino colleagues 🙏🏻
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To see a jade vine in flower is a treat. To see one in the wild, as I did just now in the Philippines: that's special.
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Last night I completed a trio of pitcher plants in watercolour.
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The Rafflesia family contains the world’s largest flowers, spanning up to a metre across. Here are some I have painted in oils over the last few years, inspired by my adventures in Southeast Asia alongside some inspirational foresters and conservation heroes.
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One of the botanical highlights of 2022: Echium wildpretii in full bloom, wild in the mountains of Tenerife.
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Today I took a boat to the island of La Graciosa with ecologists, and after several failed attempts, we finally found this rarity: Cynomorium coccineum. Reduced to a few specimens here on the Canary Islands in an area you need permission to access, this is a truly special find.
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I know, I know. I've spammed you all for weeks now with the world's largest flowers. But look at THIS shot! A fly's eye view of Rafflesia, seen in the Philippines last month.
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Not a deep-sea monster: Rhizanthes deceptor, the strangest flower in the world, seen this week deep in the Sumatran jungle.
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We grow the cutest pineapples at Oxford Botanic Garden:
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Strongylodon juangonzalezii is a blue-purple flowered species of jade vine in the Philippines. Its gigantic vines coil into the sky and shower blue-purple flowers onto the floor the shape of doves.
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Today I'm researching the loadbearing capacity of giant waterlilies with engineers. More on that later - just LOOK at the underside of the leaf - our jaws all just dropped at its beauty.
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EXCITING! My night flowering cactus finally opened! Wasn't it worth the wait? 😀
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Two months and one hundred and seventy two thousand eight hundred
brushstrokes later:
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A botanical watercolour of Nepenthes rafflesiana I've just completed.
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A close-up of my oil painting of Strongylodon elmeri I illustrated for my recent book, Pathless Forest, following an encounter with it in the Philippines. Unlike the commonly-planted jade vine, this species' flowers come in great globes that hang like chandeliers from the canopy.
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A few days ago we found a titan arum in bloom - the plant boasting the world's largest inflorescence. But it also has colossal leaves: the size of trees, they shoot up out of the earth into the canopy.
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Watercolours I did last year of desert hyacinths (Cistanche): giant, leafless parasitic plants which burst through the desert sand in an explosion of colour.
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Just completed: an oil painting of picris broomrape (Orobanche picridis).
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Today I found the jewel in the crown of the archipelago's flora: Canary Island bellflower (Canarina canariensis). A beauty without compare.
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My oil painting of a flying duck orchid from a few years ago. And I promise I didn't invent this plant.
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A watercolour illustration I've just completed of some bulbs of the Eastern Canary Islands.
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