January 2026 Leaflet for Scholars ~ Elisabeth C. Miller Library, UW Botanic Gardens

Leaflet for Scholars from the Elisabeth C. Miller Library

Volume 13, Issue 1 | January 2026

Micheal Moshier's Lewisia illustrations

detail from Micheal Moshier's Lewisia stebbinsii illustration

Micheal Moshier’s family donated his original artwork for LeRoy Davidson’s 2000 monograph Lewisias to the Miller Library, and we are so excited to feature these plant portraits in the library this month. In the words of donor Jeff Uebel:

My uncle, Micheal Moshier, was a talented, prolific landscape and plant artist and a skilled, dedicated landscape designer and craftsman. He traveled and worked all along the West Coast and Hawaii, but his home base was the Puget Sound, especially right here in and around Seattle’s Washington Park Arboretum. He is probably best known for his incredibly detailed pen, ink and graphite depictions of sun and cloud-drenched Cascade and Olympic peaks and waterfalls, rocky outcrops and islands in the Puget Sound, and placid scenes along Lake Washington. He was equally fascinated by and recorded the tiny components of these areas: mushrooms, flowers, leaves, kelp and stones.

He was particularly proud of his work with LeRoy Davidson to create the monograph Lewisias and asked that his illustrations for that work be kept together, to be shared and enjoyed by as many people as possible. We hope that you do enjoy them.

The exhibit is open during library hours.

Do Plants Know Math? by Stéphane Douady and others
Reviewed by Brian Thompson

As an undergraduate in college, I was a math major. My career has not made much use of this education, but I do like mathematical puzzles. When we received a review copy of Do Plants Know Math?, I was intrigued.

Is this a math book? There are some scary-looking equations here and there. But it is mostly a biographical history book, presenting the very human stories of observing and documenting the spiral patterns of plant growth using mathematical principles.

Do plants know math? : unwinding the story of plant spirals, from Leonardo Da Vinci to now / Stéphane Douady, Jacques Dumais, Christophe Golé, Nancy Pick.

Some of these were known in ancient times but forgotten, only to be rediscovered much later. For example, the famous Fibonacci sequence, named after a 13th century Italian, is really much older, dating back to Sanskrit poets in India in the 3rd century BCE.

The four authors are multinational, being from Algeria, Canada, France, and the United States. Unlike many books with multiple authors, the overall voice is very consistent and clear.

It is also fun to read, as the authors are deeply enthralled with the subject. “In building their spirals, plants obey fundamental laws of science—and why shouldn’t that gradual unfolding strike our brains as utterly entrancing and thrillingly beautiful?”

At the end of each chapter, there are “Try Your Hand” exercises, ways to test the theories with simple projects. One example walks you through the steps to make a kirigami maple leaf and suggests comparing it with the real thing. Both are beautiful.

Presented at the end of the book is “A Spiral Dinner” with all the recipes needed from drinks to dessert. As you prepare, you’ll observe the patterns in pineapples, cabbages, artichokes, and even strawberries. Delicious!

Each chapter begins with poetry:

Don’t

you

wonder,

Broccoli,

Whether you repeat

yourself? I mean, really repeat

your self? How much self-similarity is enough?

Carly Stewart joins Miller Library staff

Please join us in welcoming Carly Stewart to the Miller Library staff. Carly completed a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Fairhaven College at Western Washington University in August 2020 with a major encompassing art and design, environmental science, and botany. She completed a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington in June 2024.

She has worked as an archivist for the Washington State Historical Society, a Public Services technician for the UW Libraries Special Collections, and is currently also working as Archives Assistant for the Museum of Flight. Before that, she worked in the nursery at Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center in Carnation, WA and at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Carly works Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Stop by and say hello!