#wardian case

[steampunktendencies]

H Potter Terrarium Barrel Vault Wardian Case

Shop here

[floweringglass]

Some cheerful plant themed pieces for this unseasonably warm day!

(also, apologies if duplicate posts show up- tumblr has eaten my three prior attempts at this post....)

[illuminaryart]

The stained glass terrarium I've been working on for a long while is finally done!!! 6"x6"x9", with a perforated metal screen. This will house my Cyriocosumus elegans in a Trinidad biotope.

[palaeosinensis]

The Wardian case topper is almost ready. I actually need to grind down the ends and the width of the top so it’ll fit nearly into the aquarium rim once soldered. But I’m still sick so I’ll pause here. But now I can see how pretty it will be once done.

[prinsomnia]

fig. 1 ✷ a wardian case

[theorchidhouse]

19th century Wardian case

[storyfund]

A small greenhouse that broke monopolies

A physician Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward was a passionate botanist in XIX century London. He kept moth cocoons in sealed bottles, until one day he found that a fern spore and some grass had germinated on a bit of soil in one of them. The bottle stayed sealed for a few years, and he noticed that the plants grew and even bloomed once. However, the seal became rusted, and the plants died. 

Ward ordered a closely fitted glazed wooden case from a carpenter. This model appeared to be more applicable than a bottle, as ferns had thrived in it. Further in his experiments, he successfully transported a case with British ferns and grasses to Sydney and even back, in 1833. The plants were still in good condition despite storms during the trip. 

This is how the Wardian case came into existence – a modern terrarium and vivarium forerunner. The invention also opened new opportunities for plants importing, breaking some of the geographic agricultural monopolies. One of the first and most noticeable cases was a Scottish botanist Robert Fortune's venture: he smuggled tea plants from China in Wardian cases to start a new plantation in Assam, India, in the 1840s. The cases were also used in transportation of cinchona (quinine) plants from South Africa and rubber trees from Brazil. 

Bottom line: 

Humble-looking objects and inventions can have a disproportional effect on the world.

[echos-answer]

The window flower garden, 1887