
A garden's chronicle
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François Sockhom Mey has been passionately interested in carnivorous plants. He studied their systematics and ecology, with a particular focus on the Indochinese Nepenthaceae.
A garden's chronicle
2M ago
I am happy to announce that I will co-author a two-volume monograph dedicated to the carnivorous plant genus Heliamphora, the so-called marsh pitcher plants known from the tepuis, the table mountains of Venezuela (on the border with Guyana and Brazil).
The books will be produced by Redfern Natural History. Although I have been (co-) authoring scientific papers for over 15 years now, being an an author of a botanical book is a first for me and I feel humbled to have my name along those of mostly famous tepui explorers (see cover pictures below).
The books are currently being prod ..read more
A garden's chronicle
3M ago
Ten years ago, I visited my friend Cédric Azais at his former nursery in southern France. Regular followers of this blog might remember the posts I made back then. As a reminder, here are links to each of them, all feast to the eye:
(Click on the links below)
-Part 1 A sublime Nepenthes collection, part 1;
-Part 2: A sublime Nepenthes collection, part 2;
-Part 3: Heliamphora, Cephalotus, Sarracenia and Drosera, part 3.
Sadly, the place was heavily damaged by floods and a few years ago Cédric has relocated his house and nursery into a new ..read more
A garden's chronicle
4M ago
Unbelievable! I have eventually posted, 4 years later (!), the 3rd and last part of my Nepenthes diabolica in situ pictures.
What am I talking about?
Well, in 2020, when I was still actively posting on that blog, I said I would post three galleries dedicated to the then freshly described diabolical pitcher plant. I posted two of them then I just disappeared from Blogger... I moved to other social media (IG mainly and Facebook), Covid struck and I abruptly abandoned this blog where I had actually started most of my online presence.
I have decided ..read more
A garden's chronicle
4M ago
Nepenthes northiana watercolor painting completed at last.
Unsurprisingly this one took longer than expected. Though I have to say for my defense that I was very busy this year on the botanical research front.
This piece is number #7 out a 10 piece series dedicated to the iconic Nepenthes species of Borneo. #8 will be the beautiful N. stenophylla. This one will be made slowly for I have also a long overdue Heliamphora tatei painting to do. I will work on both pieces at once. A first for me!
The original piece is SOLD (at it was a commission) but PRINTS are already available a ..read more
A garden's chronicle
4M ago
I have just completed a watercolor painting of Nepenthes northiana. I had been waiting to illustrate this species for a long time.
It is the 7th painting of a 10 piece series dedicated to endemic Nepenthes of Borneo (all pieces are commissioned). Nepenthes northiana is an iconic species named after legendary botanical artist Marianne North (1830-1890). Miss North helped discovering this spectacular species and she produced some beautiful paintings of it that are now displayed at the Marianne North Gallery in Botanical Garden Kew.
Many years ago, I observed Nepenthes northiana in Bau ..read more
A garden's chronicle
4M ago
Hello all,
Earlier this year, I had I had great pleasure to have another species published. This time it was not a Nepenthes species but an… Heliamphora! Behold Heliamphora electrum!
Known in horticultural circles under the name « Heliamphora sp. Venamo » or « H. collina Venamo »., H. electrum is distinguished from its relatives, H. collina and H. heterodoxa by several characters including bimorphic retentive hairs and spoon differences.
Here are the references of the paper, abstract and etymology paragraph:
Golos, M.R., Nerz, J., Mey, F.S. & Wistuba, A. 2024. Heli ..read more
A garden's chronicle
2y ago
Hello all!
Long time no see. ?
Just made myself a linktree!
https://linktr.ee/francoismey
This is basically a page where I gather various links leading to my taxonomic work, art, videos and other musing. The links will lead you to:
-my Etsy shop where you can purchase my botanical art (prints, stickers and bookmarks based on my watercolor paintings or scientific illustrations);
-a NEW inPRNT shop with a selection of illustrations available, should you want it, with a frame and at larger size (from A4 size to A2!);
-a bibliography of my work as a taxonomist and scientific illustrator speci ..read more
A garden's chronicle
4y ago
Hello everyone,
I'm quite rare on the blog these days I know. Actually, I spend much of my social media time on Facebook and Instagram and sometimes on Twitter. Go there if you can. ;-)
Today, I would like to show you my last botanical illustration: a scientific black and white botanical plate of the Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula. It is arguably one of the most iconic plants in the world and certainly the most iconic carnivorous plant. With this work, I had the ambition of proposing a comprehensive botanical plate for this species. Although, it is very well known and although there are al ..read more
A garden's chronicle
4y ago
Dear readers,
I have recently been interviewed by my good friend Marcel Van Den Broek for CPN (Carnivorous Plant Newsletter), the journal of the ICPS, the International Carnivorous Plant Society. The interview will be published in the 2020 December issue (vol. 49, n° 4) which is already available online for subscribers. I have been allowed to share it already. This interview focuses on my activity as a botanical illustrator. If you want to know more about me, my background and my artistic statement, please have a look. I hope you will enjoy the read. ;-)
Thanks a lot Marcel and Bob Ziemmer f ..read more
A garden's chronicle
4y ago
Good news! I will eventually post 3 series of Nepenthes diabolica in situ pictures and not 2 as initially announced. I'm sure no one will complain. ;) For those who missed it, the first part can be found here.
This time, the pictures have been provided by friend Andrea Bianchi, main author of Nepenthes diabolica description, a paper published 8 days ago, on October 14th. Here are the references:
Bianchi, A., C.C. Lee, M.R. Golos, F.S. Mey, M. Mansur, Y.M. Mambrasar & A.S. Robinson (2020). Nepenthes diabolica(Nepenthaceae), a new species of toothed pitch ..read more