“Angiosperms”
from March 1 to April 8.
Virginia has assembled a unique selection of books from across several disciplines on the topic of flowers. Enclosed within the case a brass bull and bear bookend a line of titles that create a narrative both poetic and revealing of the complex politics, economy and social history of flowers and their industry. A mobile of pressed flowers hovers between the titles: “Our Flowering World” and “The Geography of Commerce.” This modest cross-section accompanies a larger but less conspicuous group of books which trace the path of her week long research with the collection; these titles remain on the library shelves but are marked by the dried flowers that Virginia has pressed in their pages.
Angiosperms: any of a class or division of vascular plants (as magnolias, grasses, oaks, roses, and daisies) that have the ovules and seeds enclosed in an ovary, form the embryo and endosperm by double fertilization, and typically have each flower surrounded by a perianth composed of two sets of floral envelopes comprising the calyx and corolla —called also flowering plant.