Shuttle Discovery's Final Flight Today

Shuttle Discovery’s Final Flight Today

Posted on by Scott Young
Posted on: Thursday February 24, 2011

The space shuttle Discovery is on the pad right now, awaiting its launch at 3:50 pm Central time. Discovery’s flight has been delayed several times, most recently due to cracks in the massive external fuel tank. The cracks were repaired and strengthened, and the tank has been fueled and is holding pressure, so it looks like it was the right decision. We’ll be updating this blog throughout the preparations for launch.

Scott Young

Scott Young

Planetarium Astronomer

Scott is the Planetarium Astronomer at the Manitoba Museum, developing astronomy and science programs. He has been an informal science educator for thirty years, working in the planetarium and science centre field both at The Manitoba Museum and also at the Alice G. Wallace Planetarium in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Scott is an active amateur astronomer and a past-President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Manitoba Stories: In the Sky

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Voyage of Discovery

Posted on by Rebecca Watson
Posted on: Thursday February 24, 2011

By Dr. Graham Young, past Curator of Palaeontology & Geology

 

Last week, I discovered several very exciting fossils. Some of these are unusual, so unusual that they will certainly end up as the subject of future scientific publications. One of them is only the second known specimen, worldwide, of a particular group for the entire Ordovician Period!

But how, you must wonder, did I manage to make these discoveries? Was I out in the -20 degree weather, scraping the snow from the edge of a quarry in the Manitoba Interlake so that I could get at the rock beneath? Was I taking time away from the Museum, collecting fossils beside some calm tropical sea?

No, it was not as romantic as either of those possibilities. I was in one of the best places to find unusual fossils: looking through the microscope in my little research office. You may have heard of those situations when a large museum discovers an unknown dinosaur in its back rooms, stored away in field jackets from some long-past collecting expedition. But what you might not appreciate is that many of the most important fossil discoveries are made in museum collections, not in the field.

Stacks of trays carrying fossils placed around a crowded office.

I had thought about this for a long time, ever since hearing and reading about how Euan Clarkson discovered the conodont animal in a collection in Scotland. Conodonts have been known for over a century as small, fossilized tooth-like structures that are abundant in many rocks from the Paleozoic Era, but until the early 1980s it was not known what they really represented. Euan found the answer when he was looking through drawers full of specimens that had been collected long before from a site near Edinburgh known as the Granton Shrimp Bed. Based on this discovery, he and his colleagues were able to demonstrate that conodonts were eel-shaped fish-like creatures.

 

Image: In the paleontology lab, trays of fossils await examination under the microscope.

It is much the same here. We might sometimes already have an inkling that we have found something unusual, such as a very ancient horseshoe crab. But it is only when we really study things carefully under a microscope that we are able to make sense of them, to discover what they actually are. And there are times that the finds are, like Euan’s, simply serendipitous. When I first started to work at the Museum, I had to sort through some uncatalogued fossils. One of these looked somewhat like a jellyfish, with the note attached stating that it had been found in a schoolyard in River Heights, Winnipeg.

Close-up of a fossilized horseshoe crab.

Holotype specimen of the horseshoe crab Lunataspis aurora (specimen I-4000A).

Close-up on a fossilized jellyfish specimen.

The jellyfish found in a schoolyard in Winnipeg (specimen I-2555; ca=canals, go=gonads).

Years later, when I really started to study fossil jellyfish, I pulled out that specimen and realized that it wasn’t just a jellyfish. It was actually one of the best-preserved fossil jellies in existence, and I used a photo of it in a paper we wrote reviewing these sorts of fossils. Since it was found in a schoolyard, however, we don’t actually know its bedrock source. I have my hunches about where it came from originally, but we are still hunting for that jellyfish goldmine! So maybe I will make a discovery in the field, too, but if so it will be because we first found a fossil in the Museum’s collection.

Meanwhile, on these winter days, I will be hunched over my microscope whenever time permits. There are so many slabs of rock to be pored over, fossils waiting to be discovered, and time moves on faster and faster …

Museum Stories: Palaeontology & Geology

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Fun with Fungus!

Posted on by Diana Bizecki Robson
Posted on: Monday February 14, 2011

It’s that time of the year when I’ve finished writing reports and analyzing data and actually get to look at all the stuff I collected last summer. I’ve just finished identifying my vascular plants and now I get to look at the fungus! Using the photographs I took of the fresh mushrooms and the notes I wrote up in the field, I settle down at my desk with a hand lens, a ruler, and a big stack of mushroom books to try and figure out what I’ve got.

A selection of fungus specimens in various storage containers laid out on a desk.

Trays of fungus that I’ve been identifying.

A flat capped mushroom growing in the grass.

My unknown Russula while still fresh in the ground.

Mushroom identification is a bit different than plant identification because you need to use your sense of smell. After determining that one of my mushrooms is some kind of Russula, I move onto the species descriptions. One of the distinguishing characteristics of a candidate species is that it smells “fruity when young and dirty when older” while the other is only “slightly dirty”. Hmm, how does one ascertain the level of dirtiness? I’m stumped and decide to move on to the next character on the list: taste. One candidate species is described as tasting “very sharp and burning” which sounds more like a description of a bladder infection than a gustatory sensation to me. I decide to skip over the taste part too; I’ve read too many articles about exactly what happens to you if you eat the poisonous ones. You probably don’t want to know the details: it’s not pretty. After reading more of the descriptions I finally settle on Russula alutacea and my work on this species is done.

Two mushrooms picked and laying on the ground.

On to the next fungus, which is providing me with a fair bit of grief since it doesn’t seem to have any distinguishing characters at all! It is beige and light brown with white spores, no volva, no annulus, no partial veil, no bumps. Plus I can’t really find anything that looks quite like it in my field guides. I decide to try the internet and come across a wonderful mushroom identification web page by Micheal Kuo (http://www.mushroomexpert.com/index.html). Using his on line keys I decide that my unknown species could very well be Melanoleuca. Mr. Kuo writes that identifying species in this genus is nearly as tedious as singing Suzanne Vega’s “My Name is Luka” with the words changed to “Melanoleuca” (watch here). Oh no! Now I’m going to be singing that song all day. But the lyrics aren’t quite right. Ah, here we go “Melanoleuca, it lives on the forest floor, its’ not very colourful, yes I think I’ve seen it before. If you find mushrooms with white spores, flattened caps and amyloid warts, you just might have found this genus, you just might have found this genus, you just might have found this genus”.

 

Image: A suspected Melanoleuca sp.

As you can probably tell I get a little “office-bound” and antsy this time of year. It’s actually quite enjoyable to open up the containers that I placed the fungi in earlier in the year because the scent becomes concentrated. When the container is opened the wonderful earthy, spicy fragrance of the fungus is released and I am transported back to that mossy forest floor where I found it–a nice place to be (even if it is only in my head) on a cold, grey, February day. Unfortunately, smelling these fungi tends to make me hungry. Right now I’m craving linguini with mushroom cream sauce and bacon. Oh well, I guess I know what I’m having for dinner tonight!

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson

Curator of Botany

Dr. Bizecki Robson obtained a Master’s Degree in Plant Ecology at the University of Saskatchewan studying rare plants of the mixed grass prairies. After working as an environmental consultant and sessional lecturer…
Meet Dr. Bizecki Robson

Museum Stories: Botany

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50 Years Ago Today: Bold Steps in Space

Posted on by Scott Young
Posted on: Thursday February 3, 2011

50 years ago today, during the height of the Cold War, Americans and Russians were head-to-head in a competition to put the first human into space. At the same time, both nations were trying to send robotic probes to the Moon and the other planets. On February 3, 1961 (in North American time zones), the Soviet Union launches a four-stage version of their R-7 rocket. Earlier versions of the R-7 had launched Sputnik and the dog Laika, the first living being to orbit the Earth. With the added fourth stage, the target this time was the planet Venus. The Venera series of robotic probes would eventually land on Venus and provide the first images of its cloud-shrouded surface, but in 1961 the rockets were not up to the task yet.

The R-7 launched into a starry sky, and performed flawlessly throughout its first three stages. The new fourth stage, however, failed to ignite, and the probe remained in Earth orbit. To cover up the failure, the Soviets called the mission “Sputnik 7” and said it was only a test of a heavier spacecraft design, the Iron Curtain equivalent of “I meant to do that”.

Despite being a failed space mission, the launch did prove to the Americans that the Soviet Union could place an 8-tonne payload into orbit – and therefore, could also lob an 8-tonne H-bomb to hit any target in the world.

Scott Young

Scott Young

Planetarium Astronomer

Scott is the Planetarium Astronomer at the Manitoba Museum, developing astronomy and science programs. He has been an informal science educator for thirty years, working in the planetarium and science centre field both at The Manitoba Museum and also at the Alice G. Wallace Planetarium in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Scott is an active amateur astronomer and a past-President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Manitoba Stories: In the Sky

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Cosmomania Exhibit Takes Shape

Posted on by Scott Young
Posted on: Wednesday January 26, 2011

We’re deep in the installation of our upcoming exhibit, “Cosmomania: The Great Space Adventure”. Here are a few images from the exhibit, which opens February 4 and is FREE to the public (thank you to the Canadian Space Agency for supporting its cross-Canada tour).

A sign with writing "cnythnk / spoutnik 57".

Sputnik 1957 banner.

A reflective metal orb on a stand in front of a chalkboard like sign with blueprints on it.

Sputnik workshop, 1957.

A white space helmet with red letters across the top reading CCCP.

Yuri’s Helmet.

Figures of Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Snowy the dog in orange space suits next to a red rocket.

Tintin astronaut figures.

Close up on a wallpaper pattern in reds, oranges, and browns, showing microscopes and humanoid figures working with tools like wrenches and poles.

Communist wallpaper, Soviet Union c. 1961.

Scott Young

Scott Young

Planetarium Astronomer

Scott is the Planetarium Astronomer at the Manitoba Museum, developing astronomy and science programs. He has been an informal science educator for thirty years, working in the planetarium and science centre field both at The Manitoba Museum and also at the Alice G. Wallace Planetarium in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Scott is an active amateur astronomer and a past-President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Manitoba Stories: In the Sky

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On a Wild Gull Chase – A Rarity From Afar

Posted on by Randall Mooi
Posted on: Thursday January 20, 2011

Most of us, other than those interested in birds, don’t take much notice of the comings and goings of gulls. Some might even consider “seagulls” a nuisance of sorts as they soar effortlessly overhead… and metabolize. If pressed for natural history facts, though, it might be observed that gulls are here when it’s warm(er) and gone when it’s cold. Which seems simplistic, but is actually quite accurate. Gulls are much better harbingers of spring than the proverbial robin. Robins frequently overwinter in the southern third of Manitoba, whereas gulls of all species are almost universally gone by early December and will return in numbers only in late March or April.

For this reason, seeing any gull in December is noteworthy. So as I crossed the border from North Dakota into Manitoba returning from a post-Christmas soccer tournament in Minneapolis, I was shocked to see a gull flying north along Highway 75 parallel to the car. Despite eye-rolling from family (now used to, but not encouraging of, Dad’s bird diversions), I found a spur road and tried to track down the unusual feathered visitor. The impeccable timing of a train passing between us and the flying bird, and the complication of choosing the wrong side of a divided highway made a re-sighting challenging. But with help from bemused passengers, and after crossing to the west side service road, we did glimpse the gull just before it magically vanished! Cruising the service road just south of St. Jean Baptiste I managed to spot the bird huddled forlornly among the snow-drifted cattails of the drainge ditch beside the highway.

A white bird with grey to black wings and a yellow beak walking on sand backed by a blue sky and green brush.

Herring Gull (Larus argenteus) on Nueltin Lake; the quintessential “seagull.”

A bird with a white body and grey wings with black tips and a dark beak. The bird is fluffed up and huddled down on a snowy surface.

Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), first-year plumage, St. Jean Baptiste, Manitoba, December 30 2010.

It was clearly a first-year bird, probably a Black-legged Kittiwake! It wasn’t until back in Winnipeg and after studying field guides and sharing my photos with more knowledgeable birders that I was certain. (I’ve always liked gulls, but their identification I find tricky.) This is only the third record for southern Manitoba! There are fewer than ten records for the province and most have been during the summer along Hudson Bay. The kittiwake is one of the more pelagic (ocean-going) gulls, breeding on cliffs along northern and temperate oceans of North America, Eurasia, and the high Arctic, spending the remainder of the year at sea. So it is not surprising it is such a rarity in southern Manitoba.

Fluffy, snow-covered cattails emerging from a snow-covered ground, backed by a bright blue sky.

So where did it come from? Hard to say, but there have been a surprising number of kittiwakes reported from the midwestern states this last fall and early winter. In November, Nebraska, and Minnesota each had one bird, and South Dakota had two at Pierre through at least the Christmas season. There was even one as close to Manitoba as Grand Forks, North Dakota in November (maybe, like some Manitobans, getting some early Christmas shopping in). It is possible that the Manitoba kittiwake was driven north by the incredible blizzard that hit North Dakota and Minnesota and was nipping at the heels of my family and I as we raced home that day to beat the weather.

 

Image: A frigid, but gorgeous prairie morning.

Because the kittiwake looked a little out of sorts, was clearly lost, and no one had managed to find the bird subsequently, a little less than a week later I thought I’d see if I could find its carcass to add to the collection. Looking for a mostly white bird in the drifting snow is worse than looking for a needle in a haystack, but I felt it to be a couple of hours well spent  – we have no Manitoba specimens of this species in the Museum collection. So I was back in St. Jean on a bone-chilling morning on a fool’s errand.

Cattails cast shadows across snowy ground on a bright winter day.

Cattails and their shadows, perhaps hiding a treasure.

Hoar frost covered branches against a bright blue sky.

Frost-covered plants add to the chill.

A deer antler sticking out of the snow.

Perhaps the kittiwake avoided the fate that befell this buck whitetail.

I knew exactly where I had last seen it sitting on the snow, and I searched a large area on foot, checking every suspicious snowy mound and looking for a few telltale feathers. I had no luck, but perhaps that meant that the bird had had some. I did flush a snowy owl and discovered instead a true winter wonderland of snow-capped cattails with their  shadows stretching over pristine snow, interrupted only by stories told by rabbit tracks.

Even an unsuccessful wild gull chase can have its rewards.
Dr. Randy Mooi

Dr. Randy Mooi

Curator of Zoology

Dr. Mooi received his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Toronto working on the evolutionary history of coral reef fishes. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Fishes of the Smithsonian Institution…
Meet Dr. Randy Mooi

Museum Stories: Zoology

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Environmental Monitoring

Posted on by Collections & Conservation
Posted on: Friday December 31, 2010

In order to remain aware of the conditions surrounding The Manitoba Museum’s collections, the Conservators undertake a program of regular monitoring. Once each month, a Conservator goes through all areas where collections are stored or displayed with a hand held thermohygrometer, which measures temperature and relative humidity (RH) via sensors in an attached probe.

Ideally, temperature and RH should be as stable as possible, allowing for some drift as the outside weather changes through the seasons. Extremes of temperature or RH, as well as sudden dramatic changes, can be harmful to some materials. For example, dry wood can swell and even crack if exposed to sudden high RH. Very high RH over a length of time can cause mould, or corrosion on metal.  Checking the temperature and RH each month, the Conservator is checking for stability and flagging any problems.

A thermohygrometer attached to a sensor on a coil.

Digital thermohygrometer.

A thermal dial.

These dials are in many of our exhibit cases.

The monthly thermohygrometer monitoring is in addition to regular checks in the galleries. Several times weekly, the Conservators record readings they take by looking at temperature/RH dials that are placed in many exhibit cases. Thus, conditions both inside display cases, and in the general gallery air, as well as storage areas, are all measured and recorded.

A regular program of monitoring means we’re aware of any environmental problems, such as a spike in RH, and can deal with them quickly.

Museum Stories: Collections & Conservation

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Christmas Fruits

Posted on by Diana Bizecki Robson
Posted on: Tuesday December 14, 2010

Botanically speaking, a fruit is the plant part that contains seeds. Before the invention of modern refrigeration, fresh fruit was only eaten when it was in season. To enjoy fruits at other times of the year, preservation was necessary. Drying fruits by burying them in sand or sun-drying them is the oldest method, beginning in ancient Egypt over 6,000 years ago. Plums, currants and cranberries are all native to northern Europe and Canada, and would have been the most common dried fruits in these areas. Raisins were being imported to northern Europe in the 11th century, and dates and figs in the 13th. Dried, rather than fresh, fruits are key ingredients in many traditional northern European and Canadian Christmas dishes.

Cranberries

(Vaccinium spp.)

For many people, a Christmas turkey dinner would not be complete without cranberry sauce. Cranberries are closely related to blueberries and grow in similar habitats: sandy and peaty soil. Cranberries are sometimes harvested by flooding the entire field and scooping up the floating cranberries. The North American cranberry (V. macrocarpon) is larger than the European cranberry (V. oxycoccus) or lingonberry. Dried cranberries are used as substitutes for raisins and currants in fruitcakes, and are sometimes added to the Austrian fruit cake Kugelhopf. Cranberry kisel is a popular dessert in Russia. Cranberry or lingonberry sauce is a traditional accompaniment to roast turkey or goose.

Currants

(Ribes spp.)

Although similar in appearance to raisins, currants are more closely related to gooseberries than to grapes. Confusing the matter, a variety of small, dark raisins are called currants as well. Currants are native to North America and Europe, and grow on shrubs that reach 1-metre. Many currants have spiny stems and are easily identified by their lobed, palm-like leaves. Historically, dried, wild black currants were put into fruitcakes and fruit breads by Canadian women before foreign fruits became common.

Small pile of dried dates on a red background.

Dates

(Phoenix dactylifera)

The date palm is one of the oldest cultivated fruits, being popular in ancient Mesopotamia and Persia. Date palm trees can grow up to 30-m. Dates grow in hanging bunches; a single tree can produce 1,000 dates a year. There are hundreds of varieties of dates but only some are grown commercially. The word date is derived from the Greek daktulos meaning finger and referring to the elongated shape of the fruit. Dried dates are popular Christmas snacks plain or stuffed with nuts, almond paste or cream cheese. Dates are sometimes added to British puddings and fruitcakes and are found in Canadian Matrimonial Cake (date squares).

 

Image: Dates have been eaten by humans for over 8,000 years.

Small pile of dried figs on a red background.

Figs

(Ficus carica)

Figs, native to the Mediterranean, have been cultivated since the 4th century. In fact, baskets of dried figs were found in ancient Egyptian tombs. Since figs are highly perishable, they are mainly sold dried. Figs are fleshy receptacles that contain many tiny fruits inside them called achenes. Figs either self-pollinate or are pollinated by fig wasps that crawl into the fig to reach to flowers inside. Figgy pudding was immortalized in the carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. The Greek cake Christopsomo is made with dried figs.

 

Image: Figs are highly perishable and rarely available fresh.

Small pile of dried prunes on a red background.

Prunes

(Prunus spp.)

Prunes are simply dried plums. However, only certain varieties of plums, those that dry well without stone removal and have high sugar content, are used to make prunes. Prunes were traditionally sun-dried but modern drying facilities are used today. Plum trees are found all over the Northern hemisphere and were the most commonly available dried fruit in parts of northern Europe for a long time. Prunes are made into juice or added to fruitcakes and puddings. Ironically, many recipes for “plum” pudding don’t actually contain plums but raisins. The true identity of the “sugar plums” referred to in “Twas the Night Before Christmas” is debatable but probably refers to boiled, sugar-coated seeds rather than actual plums.

 

Image: Prunes have long been known to help cure constipation.

Small pile of dried raisins on a red background.

Raisins

(Vitis spp.)

The grape varieties used to make raisins are table grapes rather than wine grapes. The Sultana grape variety is most popular as they are seedless, eliminating the need to remove seeds after drying. Table grapes seem to have originated in Western Asia and have been cultivated since ancient times. Grape vines support themselves using modified leaves called tendrils. Sensitive to touch, tendrils wrap themselves tightly around supports. Raisins are common in Christmas breads like the Croatian Badnji Kruh, Italian Panettone and Czech Hoska and in the Newfoundland pudding Figgy Duff. Butter tarts are an original Canadian dessert that contains raisins, dating back to at least 1900.

 

Image: Dried raisins were popular in northern countries before fresh fruit was available in winter.

This blog is part of a series on The Botany of Christmas. Learn more in:

Christmas Nuts

Christmas Spices

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson

Curator of Botany

Dr. Bizecki Robson obtained a Master’s Degree in Plant Ecology at the University of Saskatchewan studying rare plants of the mixed grass prairies. After working as an environmental consultant and sessional lecturer…
Meet Dr. Bizecki Robson

Museum Stories: Botany

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Christmas Spices

Posted on by Diana Bizecki Robson
Posted on: Wednesday December 8, 2010

The spices we typically associate with Christmas baking, like nutmeg and cinnamon, all grow in tropical areas. Before the shipping of spices became reliable, they were rare and expensive in Europe, and for this reason used only for special occasions like weddings and holidays. Many traditional Christmas desserts are made with a variety of exotic spices. Mulled beverages, like wassail, are prepared by heating the liquid with a mixture of whole spices wrapped in cheesecloth or placed in a tea ball. The most popular spices are described below.

A small pile of allspice next to an allspice container on a red background.

Allspice

(Pimenta dioica)

Allspice is a dried, unripe berry that grows on a small, evergreen tree native to Jamaica. In the wild, allspice seeds will not germinate until they pass through the digestive systems of birds. West Indian Arawak and Carib Indigenous peoples were the first to use allspice in cooking. Christopher Columbus brought allspice to Spain where it was named pimenta, Spanish for pepper. It is now commonly called allspice because its flavour seems to be a combination of several popular spices. Allspice is used in British steamed puddings, Scottish Black Bun, mince pies and hot mulled wine.

 

Image: Allspice looks very similar to pepper.

Cinnamon/Cassia

(Cinnamomum spp.)

Cinnamon and Cassia are trees native to India and Ceylon. Cassia is cheaper than cinnamon but not as flavourful. Once Cinnamomum trees are three years old, the outer bark is harvested. This distorts their growth forms into dense shrubs rather than trees. Cinnamon and Cassia have been popular for a long time; Egyptians imported it from China in 2000 B.C.! Cinnamon is a common spice used to flavour Christmas puddings, cakes, cookies, and the Danish pastry Klejne.

A small pile of cloves next two two different containers of cloves on a red background.

Cloves

(Syzygium aromaticum)

Cloves are sun-dried, unopened flower buds of an evergreen tree native to the Molucca Islands of Indonesia. The Dutch originally had a monopoly on clove exports until seeds were smuggled by the French to Mauritius in the 18th century. Clove oil is used to make vanillin, an artificial substitute for vanilla. Cloves are used in a variety of Christmas cookies such as German Speculaaas and Pfeffernusse, and are an essential ingredient in mulled wine and hot toddies. Oranges studded with cloves make popular Christmas decorations.

 

Image: Cloves are tiny dried flower buds.

Ginger

(Zingiber officinale)

Ginger is the rhizome (an underground stem) of a tropical herbaceous plant native to southern Asia. Ginger has been cultivated for over 3,000 years! In Asia, ginger is mainly used fresh or pickled in savory dishes, like curries and stir-fries, but in Europe it was traditionally used dried, in desserts like gingerbread and gingersnaps. This is because, until recently, ginger was not sold fresh in other parts of the world. Ginger is also sold crystallized and coated in chocolate, another popular Christmas snack.

A small pile of nutmeg next to three containers of nutmeg on a red background.

Nutmeg/Mace

(Myristica fragrans)

These two spices are derived from the same species of evergreen tree. Nutmeg is the hard stone inside a fleshy fruit similar to an apricot, while mace is the fleshy net that covers the stone. The nutmeg tree is native to the Molucca Islands of Indonesia where it is a major cash crop. This species is pollinated by small beetles that are deceived into thinking that they will be rewarded with pollen or nectar. Nutmeg flavours British fruit cakes and mince tarts as well as the Italian Certosino cake, and is the traditional garnish to a glass of egg nog.

 

Image: Nutmeg is the “nut” and mace is the “net” that surrounds it.

Saffron

(Crocus sativus)

Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, costing over $10,000 per kilogram!  The tiny orange threads are actually the stigmas, or pollen-receiving organs, of a crocus flower that is native to southwest Asia.  The stamens on these tiny flowers must be hand-harvested, which is extremely expensive.  Fortunately, very little saffron is needed to add flavour and colour to a dish.  The Scandanavian Lussebulle or saffron buns are traditionally made on St. Lucia’s Day, December 13, and served by young women dressed in white.

Two bottles of vanilla extract next to a long vanilla bean on a red base.

Vanilla

(Vanilla planifolia)

Vanilla is an orchid native to Central America. The vanilla “bean” is a fruit called a capsule. Vanilla beans are cured after harvesting, a process that takes six weeks. The beans are sold whole, or steeped in alcohol to produce extract. The Aztecs of Mexico mixed vanilla with chocolate to produce a tasty beverage. The Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez brought vanilla to Spain in the 16th century, where it quickly became popular. Vanilla from Central America is naturally pollinated by wild bees. Madagascar vanilla on the other hand, must be hand-pollinated as there are no suitable wild pollinators in Africa, resulting in a higher price. Vanilla is the main flavouring in Christmas desserts like the Ukrainian honey cake, Medivnyk.

 

Image: Vanilla “beans” are actually orchid fruits. Vanilla is usually sold as an extract in alcohol.

This blog is part of a series on The Botany of Christmas. Learn more in:

Christmas Nuts

Christmas Fruits

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson

Curator of Botany

Dr. Bizecki Robson obtained a Master’s Degree in Plant Ecology at the University of Saskatchewan studying rare plants of the mixed grass prairies. After working as an environmental consultant and sessional lecturer…
Meet Dr. Bizecki Robson

Museum Stories: Botany

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Motherload!

Posted on by Rebecca Watson
Posted on: Monday December 6, 2010

By Dr. Graham Young, past Curator of Palaeontology & Geology

 

If we think about it at all, most of us tend to consider dung (poop) as a substance to be gotten rid of, not something to be collected and treasured. And that is the case for at least 99.9% of it, but of course the situation is different when the dung is in fossilized form, and when it comes from giant, long-extinct creatures.

Fossilized dinosaur dung, or coprolites, has been studied for nearly two centuries. Dinosaur coprolites can tell us quite a bit about the diet and physiology of the creatures, and of course they also make interesting “conversation pieces”.

The Museum is fortunate to have a few good coprolites in our collection, but the quality of this collection was greatly enhanced by a recent donation from long-time Community Associate Ed Dobrzanski. Ed gave us, from his personal collection, two superb coprolites that he had purchased from a dealer about 25 years ago. These are both from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Utah, the 150 million year-old home of famous dinosaur bones such as those of Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, and  Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus.

A white-bearded gentleman holding up a greyish coprolite with two hands.

Ed Dobrzanski holding the theropod coprolite.

Close-up of a reddish brown coprolite specimen. The rock is lumpy and irregular in shape.

The splendid agatized theropod coprolite (V-3106).

The first coprolite is the dung of a meat-eating theropod, possibly Allosaurus, since it is the most common large theropod found in the Morrison Formation. This example, perhaps rather graphically, carries the shape associated with its original source!

Two close-ups of a coprolite. The upper image shows the exterior of the specimen, lumpy and brownish. The lower image shows the polished interior, predominantly whitish crystal with orangey-red streaks.

The second specimen is from large plant-eating dinosaur, possibly a sauropod such as Apatosaurus. At first glance, it appears to be a very ordinary, concretion-like rock. However, it has been cut and polished, and the internal structure is revealed as a strikingly beautiful series of agatized blobs and whorls.

 

Image: The sauropod coprolite, with external surface above and cut and polished surface below (V-3105).

Museum Stories: Palaeontology & Geology

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