Birthday of Johann Hieronymus Kniphof (cool name!)

February 24th is the birthday of Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, physician and botanist born 1704 in Erfurt, Germany. He assembled a large herbarium and compiled and published a book about it titled Botanica in Originali which featured an innovative form of printing. The illustrations are stunning.

One of our favorite sturdy plants named for Mr. Kniphof is the Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker or Torch Lilly) . We see them clustered around gateways and ditches throughout rural areas in the North Bay. More about the lovely Kniphofia later.