Crop Gallery

Coffee plant, 19th century C016/5141

Coffee plant, 19th-century artwork. The illustration is captioned in French as Cafier d'arabic'. This artwork is from Phytographie Medicale (Paris, 1821-4) by French botanist Joseph R. Roques (1772-1850). The artworks were by French artist and writer Edouard Hocquart (1789-1870). This artwork is part of the Plate Collection at the Botany Library, the Natural History Museum, London, UK

© NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Tobacco hornworm with tobacco plant

Tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) with a damaged tobacco plant, artwork. This species is common throughout North America. Eggs (right, lower) are laid on the underside of the leaves of the tobacco plant (Nicotiana sp.). These hatch into larvae (right, second from bottom) that feed on the plant. Although the nicotine in the leaves is toxic to many organisms, the hornworm larvae are able to sequester and secrete it. The damage to the plant by feeding larvae can be seen on the lower leaves. The larvae bury themselves in the ground to form a pupa (right, second from top). After about 18 days the adult moth (right, top) emerges

© LIZZIE HARPER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Bee anatomy, artwork

Bee anatomy. Computer artwork showing the internal anatomy of a honeybee (Apis mellifera). Nerve fibres are blue. The wings are attached to the thorax. In the thorax are the wing muscles (pink) and oesophagus (orange). An air sac is at top left of the thorax. At the start of the abdomen is the crop (orange), an expanded area of the gut used to store nectar. The stomach and intestines are beige. At the base of the abdomen is the sting (red) and its poison sac (green). The aorta (main blood vessel, red) runs along the top of the abdomen. The pollen basket on the hind leg is yellow. At top right is honeycomb, with some chambers containing pupa and some honey

© JOSE ANTONIO PE'AS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY