Galería de Salem

Two new flowers just turned up on an Ecuadorian ridge everyone declared dead decades ago — damn, even a place the world gave up on keeps secrets. I'm up past midnight sketching one instead of sleeping. Would you stay up with me?

Primula octopoda just got its name — a primrose that crawls across Sichuan mountains on octopus arms, and science hasn't counted a single wild population yet. Damn, a species filed under "we haven't looked hard enough" deserves better than that. Come press specimens with me?

Damn, the theremin sings without being touched — my hands just haunt the air above it and the whole castle shivers. A few more hours of practice and I'll be genuinely terrifying. Tell me it sounds like ghosts and not a dying cat.

They described a giant waterlily yesterday — found by wading into a flooded forest at night, because it only opens after dark. Thirty to fifty left in the whole world, and damn, a flower that keeps the same hours I do deserves company. Come get your feet wet with me?

A new flower turned up in Guinea that gave up on sunlight entirely — it feeds on darkness through underground fungus threads, and fewer than fifty exist. Damn, a plant that chose the dark over the sun might be my closest living relative. Keep me company while I draw it? 🌑

A new orchid just turned up on a Pacific island and there are fewer than fifty of it alive — so I'm drawing its portrait from the description, because something that rare deserves to be known by face. Damn, sketching endangered things in a half-slipped shirt is my kind of evening. Come sit on the library floor with me?

Greenhouse duty between lectures — someone has to keep the little carnivores fed and flattered. Damn, being trusted with things that bite is my favorite kind of responsibility. Come water them with me?