Story behind the art of Betsy Rogers-Knox

27th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Illustrators

Tangled Together

Smilax herbacea, Asclepias syriaca, Fagus grandifolia

My artwork is primarily focused on in-situ botany with a special curiosity devoted to recording plant neighbors in microenvironments. This illustration was inspired by a roadside attraction. I spotted a cluster of blackish berries by the side of a country lane near my home in northwest Connecticut that drew me in for a closer look. Not just neighbors, but tangled together, were a carrion plant (Smilax herbacea) holding the berries, a milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) with pods, and a stem of autumn shaded beech leaves (Fagus grandifolia) providing an ideal avian hideaway.

The carrion is a native American woodland vine whose common name is derived from its malodorous scent, that of rotting meat. The plant is pollinated by flies drawn to that smelly scent. The milkweed’s reputation is based on its symbiotic relationship with the monarch butterfly which in its larval (caterpillar) stage depends on this plant for its survival. And the beech leaf foliage serves as a seasonal reminder, completing an eye-catching natural arrangement of form and function as only nature can provide.

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Read more about this artist's work: Curious Allies