Carnegie Museum of Natural History
One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Grow a tiny cactus in the “world’s smallest terrarium.” Cacti thrive with just a little water and lots of sunlight. They live for years with minimal care, the ideal plant for someone with a “black thumb.”
The Tiny Terrarium is great for small spaces. While the Giant Saguaro Cactus can grow up to 40 feet tall, this one will only grow to this miniature terrarium.
$5.50 each, available in the Museum Store.
By John Wenzel
No one thinks of deserts in Pennsylvania, but we have one habitat that includes many plants typical of the western deserts. The “shale barrens” have formed over millions of years as the eroding crests of the Appalachian ridges open up areas where rock slides or exposed shale deposits create an area of very little soil that gets hot in the sun and that holds no water.
Plants such as the red cedar, barrens stonecrop, hen-and-chicks, or even prickly pear cactus thrive in these microdeserts, mostly on south-facing hillsides. These resemble more closely communities in west Texas than the eastern deciduous forest around them. Yet, unlike the West, there may be ferns alongside the cactuses, taking advantage of the rain.
How do cactuses survive our winter? Because they can tolerate being dried out, they dump their water when it gets cold and collapse like deflated balloons. With little water in them, they do not develop ice crystals internally, and so do not freeze! At Powdermill Nature Reserve, we maintain a small dry garden to show these unusual species to visitors.
John Wenzel is the Director at Powdermill Nature Reserve, Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s environmental research center. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.
By Patrick McShea
Plant Blindness refers to the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment. The term was coined twenty years ago by two botanists, Elizabeth Schussler, of the Ruth Patrick Science Educator Center in Aiken, South Carolina, and James Wandersee, of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The common condition, according to the pair, results in a chronic inability to recognize the importance of plants in the biosphere and in human affairs.
Fortunately, not all of us are afflicted. As evidence, CMNH Conservator Gretchen Anderson recounts a touching interaction she observed while conducting exhibit restoration work within the museum’s second floor Hall of North American Wildlife. From a just-opened elevator door a five-year old made a headlong dash to the diorama featuring a pair of mature jaguars and their three cubs. “LOOK Dad!” he called back to his father while pointing into the display, “CACTUS!”
For additional information about Plant Blindness, visit: https://plantsocieties.cnps.org/index.php/about-main/plant-blindness
Patrick McShea works in the Education and Visitor Experience department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.
