Parallel Botany by Leo Lionni , (1977)
I enjoyed this book so much that after I returned it to the Chicago Botanic Library I searched E bay and Thriftbooks.com for months until I found a reasonably priced copy ($70) to add to my personal collection.
Leo Lionni is primarily known for his work as a Children’s Author. Writing stories in the 1970’s that many of us 80’s and 90’s kids grew up with.
His book Parallel Botany is a project that deviates from his traditional work. Much like discovering Dr. Seuss' darker paintings, passion projects like this one feel like treasures to me, acts of love that artists leave us with giving a glimpse into their curiosities and imaginations.
Parallel Botany is a 181 page fictional “non-fiction” book about imaginary “Parallel” plants that defy the laws of evolution, motionless in time, unmotivated by the need to reproduce, often possessing unexplainable qualities. At times invisible, these plants, disintegrate into white dust when touched by humans.
Lionni writes the book in a way that feels like a nonfiction historical account, presenting these unique plants with a sense of factual precision and detail. Complete with history that never happened and myths about plants that never existed, he credibly conjured a novel detailing a new branch of botany.
It was his illustrations that first drew me to this book. Scattered throughout the pages, you can see his touch as a visual artist, bringing these plants to life. As standalone pieces, they resonated with my own practice as I, too, spend time working within the imaginary world of plants.
I picked a few of Lionni’s illustrations from this book to share here and included a small summary of the plants for context.
As an extension to his parallel universe, Lionni also created a few bronze sculptures of these plants. which I also included images of. And lastly, in my research I came across images of his home studio. I find that an artist’s home studio can help give so much context to the type of artist one is and how they prefer to work, so included here are images of all of that as well.
Antola Enigmatica
A plant that produces a physical “hallucination” one’s body split into two identical bodies while sharing one consciousness, it is a hallucination that is perceived in reality by others not under the plant’s effects.
Trillus
A version of this parallel plant, the “Trillus Odoratus” Is said to be used as part of an orgy ritual for the Machole Indians of the Mexican Sierra.
Anaclea Taludensis
A cluster of flowers that appear as black silhouettes to the naked eye, defiant to the laws of perspective, these plants are an optical illusion, regardless of how close you get to them they appear the same size.
Protorbis
Unlike most Parallel plants that disintegrate to dust when touched, these mushroom-like plants can be touched and transported. Their size varies from infinitely small to infinitely large.
The Labirintiana
Believed to have turned into a parallel plant to reduce the population of the ants in the region. This plant uses it’s maze-like structure and alluring scent to attract these ants and keep them busy.
Antaphid ants
The ants capable of endlessly eating everything in sight, posed a massive threat to all plant life in the region before the parallelization of the Labirintiana.
Artisia
Resembles a 18th century baroque sculpture, peculiar shape unlike any other plant seen before.
The Geminants
Appears as a seed/bud rather than a plant. Unlike other parallel plants, this one allows itself to be touched and cooked.
The Giraluna
Spherical “seeds” that shine with a strange metallic gold shimmer. Inspired the old Yaghurian legend about a poor farmer who grew the golden seeds to feed his family.
Photograph of the Giraluna taken by Marshall Norton during a parallel plant expedition.
Sigurya Barbulata
This plant’s “head is said to look like “a nose wearing a skirt”
Sigurya Natans
A parallel plant that lives in water, young men are forbidden to look at them as it causes the plant to go invisible.
Artist and Author Leo Lionni next to his bronze Giraluna sculptures in Venice
Leo Lionni’s “Imaginary Gardens” bronze sculpture in the Real Gardens of Verona’s Castlevecchio, 1978
Leo Lionni’s Home Studio in rural Connecticut, 1954 photographed by Ezra Stoller for Domus