Through Thursday, August 30 – Rotten Apples: Botanical Models of Diversity and Disease
Carried to our shores by the earliest European colonists and first planted in Boston in 1625, the apple, Malus pumilla, is a New England dietary icon. One of the oldest fruit trees to be domesticated, this single species now encompasses thousands of distinct varieties worldwide. Not only do these apple varieties differ in look and taste, they also vary greatly in how they respond to pests and disease.
Combining historic wax models with a series of exquisitely crafted glass models made by Rudolf Blaschka, this Harvard Museum of Natural History small, special exhibit, located in the Glass Flowers gallery, reveals the astonishing diversity of apples and the surprising beauty of the fungal and bacterial infections that afflict these and other fruits. The exhibit will be mounted through August 30, 2018. The museum is located at 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, and the gallery is open from 9 – 5. Free with admission Visit https://hmnh.harvard.edu/glass-glowers
