Photo by Hillel Burger
Echinocereus Englemanii from the Glass Flowers exhibition
Harvard Museum of Natural History
This cactus flower was handmade in 1895 by Rudolf Blaschk from glass using a process called flame working (also known as lampworking). Each tiny spike of the cactus is pulled out from melted glass and then glued to the blown cactus.
The Ware Collection of Glass Models of Flowering Plants was commissioned by Harvard in the 19th century to teach botany to Harvard students in the days before color photographs.
