Permanent Exhibits

Throughout Lyman Plant House, there are two permanent exhibits: Plant Life Through the Ages and Woods of the World. Plant Life Through the Ages is a 60-foot mural exhibit, consisting of eight panels depicting great moments in plant evolution. The Woods of the World exhibit consists of 178 unique woods from all parts of the globe and hangs from the walls and ceiling near the north entrance of Lyman.

Plant Life Through the Ages

Plant Life Through the Ages consists of eight panels depicting great moments in plant evolution. It is a significant body of work because while there are numerous depictions of animal evolution, there had been no mural devoted to the evolution of plants until this work.

The paintings were created by muralist Robert Evans. With a specialty in natural history, ethnography and history, his work can be found at the Smithsonian, Mount Vernon, and numerous museums, zoos, and aquaria.

Along with the works of art are informational panels that touch on plant fossils, plant evolution and plant extinction.

All of the panels are installed along the corridor to the Palm House.

Panel 1: Age of Stromatolites

Late Archaean Eon — 3,500-1,250 million years ago

Earth was a very lonely and desolate place, essentially a planet of bacteria. The only visible sign of life was an endless stretch of cyanobacterial mats and their fossilized remains called stromatolites. Here photosynthesis began, the first step towards plant evolution, and oxygen was introduced into the atmosphere.

Panel 2: Rhynie Chert Flora

Early Devonian Period — About 400 million years ago

Primitive vascular plants (those with water and food-conducting tissue) were beginning to evolve on land. However, they were small and inconspicuous. This mural reconstructs what we know of the flora from the fossil collection near the present day Scottish village of Rhynie. Plants from that time and place are now all extinct.

Panel 6: Age of Gymnosperms

Triassic Period through early Early Cretaceous Period — 250–130 million years ago

Plant life on Earth was now dominated by gymnosperms, seed-producing plants such as conifers, cycads, and ginkgos. While many conifer and cycad species exist today, the living ginkgo is the sole surviving species of a primitive gymnosperm group that reached the height of diversity in the Jurassic Period. Today’s representatives of gymnosperms include pine, spruce, and hemlock.

Pictured: 1.Medullosa 2.Sigillaria 3.Lepidodendron 4.Lyginopteris 5.Chaloneria 6.Calamites 7.Cordiates 8.Psaronius 9.Giant dragonfly 10.Edaphosaurus 11.Sphenophyllum 12.Callistophyton

Panel 7: Rise of the Flowering Plants

Late Early Cretaceous Period through Cretaceous Period —130–65 million years ago

As flowering plants (angiosperms) evolved and diversified, many established relationships with animal pollinators. Spreading over the globe, they came to dominate terrestrial ecosystems, as they still do today, with 250,000‒400,000 living species compared to fewer than 1,000 living gymnosperm species.

Pictured: 1.Sphenobaiera 2.Archaeopteryx 3.Tempskya 4.Araucaria 5.Nathorstiana 6.Brachiosaurus 7.Morganucodon 8.Stegosaurus 9.Glossopteris 10.Pleuromeia 11.Allosaurus 12.Williamsonia 13.Leptocycas

Panel 8: Plants and Human Affairs

The Holocene Epoch — The last 11,500 years

The rise of human civilization impacts the composition of the world’s flora through the domestication and breeding of plants, the rise of agriculture, and the movement of species (intentional and unintentional) around the globe. Overpopulation, industrialization, and other human activities are destroying habitats and changing climate, endangering species, and causing extinctions.

Pictured: 1.Drimys 2.Metasequoia 3.Nymphaea 4.Cycadeoidea 5.Amborella 6.Eomaia 7.Magnolia 8.Archaefructus 9.Triceratops 10.Archaeanthus 11.Ginkgo 12.Ascarina 13.Liriodendron

Woods of the World

The Woods of the World exhibit consists of 178 unique woods from all parts of the globe. It hangs from the walls and ceiling near the north entrance of Lyman Plant House. The wood samples on display have a clear protective finish but are not stained. Aging will change the colors over time.

Informational panels in the exhibit show examples of figure (patterns) in wood and wood grain. Also in the exhibit is a section devoted to Elm. It displays a section of an American elm (Ulmus americana) trunk hanging on the north hallway wall above the water fountains. The display includes numbered markers pointing to the corresponding annual ring on the elm section which indicate the year of significant events that occurred during the elm's lifetime.