Plant of the Month: Cascarilla
Epidemics revive old remedies and accelerate experimentation with new ones.
Plant of the Month: Heliconia
Heliconias can distinguish among pollinators like hummingbirds and respond selectively to their visits.
And a Fabulous LGBTQ History Month to You, Too!
Queer people have always had a particular relationship with history. It's only lately that archival silences have been challenged, and overcome.
Plant of the Month: Dittany
Did women in the premodern world have much agency over reproduction? Their use of plants like dittany suggests that they did.
Plant of the Month: Guava
Often classified as an invasive species, guava ignites a longstanding, transnational battle over foreign invaders and local customs.
Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Intersectional Feminism
Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw broke new ground by showing how women of color were left out of feminist and anti-racist discourse.
Plant of the Month: Peony
Peony's effectiveness as an ancient cure translated into a tool of statecraft in the eighteenth century.
This Is How They Wiped Themselves in Ancient Rome
A very gross but extremely informative look at the archaeology of toilet hygiene.
Before Vaccines, Variolation Was Seriously Trendy
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is credited with popularizing variolation among the aristocracy in England.
The Arsenic Cake of Madame Lafarge
The first trial to use forensic toxicology electrified France in 1840 with the tale of a bad marriage and poisoned innards.