BOTANICAL ART OF THE PINELANDS
6-23 April, 2007
The Drawings of Albert List, Jr.
This collection, of frequently life-size, black-and-white illustrations, was created by Albert List, Jr. (1928-2005). List was a botany professor at Drexel University with an interest in field botany and a training in art. Some additional biographical information about him is available on the internet at various websites, including: here and here . In addition, Prof. Walter Bien at Drexel is reportedly writing a biography of List for publication in the journal of the Philadelphia Botanical Club and William Cahill has written a short biography.
List's ink drawings, which can be seen as artwork in addition to botanical documentation, are on thin white board (approximately 10-point). The drawings are in black-and-white, which allows the structure of a plant to be emphasized as is traditional for such drawings. Divided into three categories, Pinelands flora, image keys and miscellaneous, the total number of drawings is believed to be upwards of 1,000. The dimensions of the sheets bearing the images vary, although many are about 23" x 15" (about one-third of the collection) and the remainder are smaller, with many about 15" x 12" in size. If stacked together, the total height of the pile of drawings would be about 21 inches.
The images of individual Pinelands flora apparently were executed from 1981 to 1998, although many of the drawings were completed before 1985. A few plants are represented by two sheets: one for the entire plant and one for enlarged details. While the drawings are in ink, the identifications and annotations on them are in pencil. Each drawing includes the scale (except examples which might turn out to be full-size), the name of the plant and the date of the image. A place, in at least general terms, is noted on at least some of the drawings. They also each include a number, part of which refers to the botanical family to which the plant depicted belongs. (For example, 96 is used for the lily family; other families represented include grasses, lichens, mosses, orchids, etc.) These numbers are List's, but if the drawings were put in sequence by the numbers, they should be in the order that would be used in a botanical manual.
Drawings that are image keys, which comprise the smallest of the three categories of drawings, include several images of Pinelands flora per sheet at a different scale. Numbers on this set of drawings apparently do not match the larger versions of the drawings, so it is at present unclear if these images actually function as a key or, if so, to what. (These sheets have not been compared to the textual material, which might clarify what these items are.
The third category of drawings, which makes up perhaps one-fifth of the total, is comprised of miscellaneous images rendered on the smaller paper. Usually unidentified, they sometimes depict insects, or pertain to plants from Pennsylvania or Costa Rica. At least some of these images do relate to the Pinelands and could be identified by consulting the textual material in the collection.
Textual Material
In April 1984 List created a textual checklist of the Pinelands flora that he had drawn prior to that date; it is present with the drawings (which were apparently still unnumbered at that time). Additional textual materials included consist of published and unpublished writings, which represent projects relating to the drawings. The total size of List's textual materials is about two cubic feet.
Among the specific projects represented in the textual materials which incorporate List's drawings are:
1. A Key to the Flowering Plant Families of the Pine Barrens of New
Jersey with a Simplified Index Key Supplement, apparently issued
for use in one or more courses which List taught.
2. A self-published, 117-page booklet (Wild Flowering Barrens /
by Al List, Jr., and Bill Cahill; with illustrations by Albert List,
Jr., c.1988), which served as a companion to botanical tours in the
Pinelands led by List and Cahill. This publication includes scores of
drawings, but they represent only a fraction of List's work.
3. A lengthy proposed book, Families of Plants in South Jersey,
with an Emphasis on Native Plants Species of the Pine Barrens and
Inclusion of Some Plants in Adjacent Perimeter Areas for Comparison,
which exists in the form of looseleaf notebooks. Portions of this work
were apparently issued separately on occasion.
11/15/06 by Albert C. King, Rutgers Libraries Special Collections
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All images are copyrighted and are NOT
in the public domain. You need to contact the copyright holder if you want
to use these images for any purpose.
(click on thumbnails for larger image
size)
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Artist: Jim Davidson, photo Title: Handful of Sphagnum, Albert List botanizing, 1992 Copyright: Jim Davidson. If you want to use this image or the unmodified version of this image, contact Jim Davidson directly at jim@jembe.com More information about image: "We were on an old logging road in the mountains near Mehoopany PA. By that time he could not walk without great pain, his leg braces are visible in the one image. So he crawled around in the ditch next to the road and pulled up some Sphagnum (peat moss) for closer inspection. We collected muddy bags of interesting plants and that night at the kitchen table he drew them in pencil, to be inked in over the long winter." Jim Davidson |
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Artist: Jim Davidson, photo Title: Sphagnum details, Albert List botanizing, 1992 Copyright: Jim Davidson. If you want to use this image or the unmodified version of this image, contact Jim Davidson directly at jim@jembe.com More information about image: see above |
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Artist: Jim Davidson, photo Title: Albert List with Hydrastis canadensis, April 1997 Copyright: Jim Davidson. If you want to use this image or the unmodified version of this image, contact Jim Davidson directly at jim@jembe.com More information about image: "And my favorite image of AL, is of him lying in a forest in perfectly comfortable repose, on top of several Hydrastis flowers in their prime. He is providing me with a dark background with his left boot so one of the yellow flowers is visible in the image. There were many thousands of blossoms over an acre or so and his smile has the satisfaction of showing me this beautiful secret place." Jim Davidson Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) is a medicinal plant native to New Jersey. |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Pinelands habitat Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: A cedar swamp in the Pinelands is the home to many different species of plants and animals. |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Pitch pine (Pinus rigida) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: The pitch pine is the pine of the Pine Barrens. It forms large forests on the sandy soil and can tolerate very drought- and nutrient-poor conditions. This pine resprouts after forest fires, and is often shrub-like or gnarly in its shape with shoots coming directly out from the tree trunk. It is named after pitch, a resin used to seal cracks in wooden boats, and it was also used for firewood and charcoal in New Jersey. (Pinus rigida; Pinaceae) |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Walnut and butternut twigs (Juglans nigra & J. cinerea) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: Twigs of plants are not only brown sticks, in fact; they often contain marks of specific species characteristics. The walnut twigs shown here in List’s drawing, are easily identifiable by their leaf scars with their three scars from the vascular strands that lead into each leaf. In each leaf axil is the bud for next year’s growth, ready to grow in spring. Black walnut and butternut are introduced in the Pinelands, and prefer more nutrient-rich soils (Juglans nigra & J. cinerea; Juglandaceae) |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Dragon mouth (Arethusa bulbosa) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: The orchid called dragon-mouth (Arethusa bulbosa) grows in mossy, open Sphagnum wetlands in the Pinelands, and also occurs in other states of northeastern US and Canada. Arethusa was a named after a beautiful Greek nymph by Linnaeus and is the only species in its genus in the world. The pink flowers get pollinated by deceiving inexperienced bumblebees into visiting, since it is not offering any reward such as pollen or nectar. |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Red Chokeberry (Photinia pyrifolia) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: Red Chokeberry is widespread in swamps and damp thickets in New Jersey and also found in the Pinelands. It is a small shrub with an abundance of white flowers in early summer. The fruit is edible but is very tart. (Photinia pyrifolia (formerly Aronia arbutifolia); Rosaceae) |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Prickly bog sedge (Carex atlantica) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: Sedges of the genus Carex have no petals and their pistil is hidden inside a bottle-shaped perigynium. The prickly bog sedge has its flowers arranged in tight clusters, like spiny balls, along the stem. This species is common in open wetlands of the Pinelands. (Carex atlantica; Cyperaceae. |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Bog yellow-eyed grass (Xyris difformis) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: The bog yellow-eyed grass is not a grass at all, but has a typical monocot flowers with six petals. The flowers are partly hidden behind bracts and the leaves are long and narrow like grass-leaves. It is a typical Pineland species and is endangered in New Jersey. (Xyris difformis; Xyridaceae). |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Bog aster (Oclemena nemoralis) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: The bog aster is a true Pinelands species, that here reaches its southern range in the US. It grows in open cedar swamps and flowers with light purple flowers in early fall. (Oclemena nemoralis (formerly Aster nemoralis); Asteraceae) |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Fruits of Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: The strikingly red Cardinal Flower is native to peripheral areas to the Pine Barrens, where it can generally be found along wetland streams. It is common in more coastal areas and is widespread in the United States. Lobelias have a very particular pollen mechanism. The pollen, which is shed into a tube formed by the fused anthers, is pushed up by the growing style. When a pollinator visits, pressure on the tube squeezes out pollen, like toothpaste from a tube, onto the pollinator. This drawing shows the capsules shedding their seeds. (Lobelia cardinalis; Campanulaceae) |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Eastern Marsh Fern (Thelypteris palustris) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: The Eastern Marsh Fern is another widespread, common species following the wetlands corridors into the forests of the Pinelands, where it is associated with upland agriculture and developed land. Ferns l don’t have flowers or seeds, instead they spread by tiny spores from organs on their lower leaf surfaces. (Thelypteris palustris; Thelypteridaceae) |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Chanterelle (Cantherellus cibarius) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: A wild delicacy around the world, the yellow chanterelle, is here captured as it grows in the forest floor, in symbiosis with birch, oak and pine trees. (Cantherellus cibarius; Cantharellaceae) |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Lichen (Cladonia macilenta) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: Cup lichens are strange looking creatures. They grow on soil or rotten wood, and from a base of small scale like lichen ‘leaves’, from which finger or trumpet-shaped extensions with red fruiting bodies on the top are situated. (Cladonia macilenta; Cladoniaceae). |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Tube lichen (Hypogymnia physodes) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: Tube lichen is a tree-growing lichen with hollow lobes, which has given its name physodes (= bladder). It is one of few species that can survive in areas with highly polluted air.(Hypogymnia physodes; Parmeliaceae). |
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Artist: Albert List, ink on cardboard Title: Beard lichen (Usnea lapponica/fulvoreagens) Copyright: Albert List. OK to use for printed articles about this exhibit, credit copyright holder. Contact Lena Struwe about internet use. More information about image: Beard lichens are typical of old forests where they can hang as long shaggy old beards from tree branches. They do not survive forest fires well, so are often resticted to wetter parts of the forest where few fires reach. (Usnea lapponica/fulvoreagens; Parmeliaceae). |
