THE STORY
It started with "A Garden's Chronicle", a name first coined for a blog, created in 2010 by me, François Sockhom Mey, 48, botanical artist, scientific illustrator, carnivorous plant taxonomist and French literature teacher.
I have been passionately interested in carnivorous plants since 2004. I have intensively studied their systematics and ecology in France where I live, the USA, my native Cambodia, as well as Vietnam, Borneo, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and the Seychelles, with particular interest in Nepenthes and Heliamphora pitcher plants, of which I have named a number of species, as well as orchids. In the course of my published work as a taxonomist, I have illustrated dozens of new species and produced many commissions for publication.
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For more than a decade, the blog provided readers with articles mainly focused on carnivorous plants (but also entomology or herpetology), their cultivation, taxonomy and ecology not to mention countless field reports. It became a fairly popular source of information used throughout the world and is still widely visited these days. You can visit it here. These last years however, it has been updated on a much less regular basis for I have moved my activity on social media.
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On late January 2020, I have started a webshop on Etsy to sell my artwork. There, I am selling prints, bookmarks and stickers. First intended to fund my botanical expeditions, this work as a botanical artist and scientific illustrator has now become the core of my activity and a newly found passion. I am now dedicating all my time to the creation of commissioned botanical watercolor paintings and black and white scientific illustrations either for private collectors, for botanical gardens or for academic papers.
At the moment, I am focusing on carnivorous plants but I intend to soon illustrate orchids, ferns, ant plants, parasitic plants and other strange botanical wonders.
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At the European Carnivorous Plant Exhibition and Exchange in Leiden, the Netherlands, October 2021.
In the field, in Cambodia, with Nepenthes bokorensis (photograph by Jeremy Holden).
ACHIEVEMENTS
2020
The Margaret Flockton Award,
Highly Commended for an illustration of
Nepenthes diabolica
EXHIBITIONS
2020
The Margaret Flockton Award, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, virtual exhibition
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2021
The Margaret Flockton Award,
Highly Commended for an illustration of
Dionaea muscipula
2021
The Margaret Flockton Award,
The Calyx, Royal Botanic
Garden Sydney
2023
The Margaret Flockton Award,
Highly Commended for an illustration of
Nepenthes macfarlanei
2023
The Margaret Flockton Award,
Mount Annan, Royal Botanic
Garden Sydney
PUBLICATIONS AS A TAXONOMIST
AND SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATOR
I have authored or co-authored since 2009 several taxonomic papers on the tropical pitcher plant genus Nepenthes (and one paper on Odonata, dragonflies and damselflies), and quite a number of botanical illustrations covering various genera, species, varieties and forms of many carnivorous plants.
You will find below the full citations and links leading to the pdfs of some of the papers and a list of the illustrations.
Papers as author or co-author:
Mey, F. S. (2009). Nepenthes bokorensis, a new species of Nepenthaceae from Cambodia. Carniflora Australis. Journal of the Australasian Carnivorous Plants society inc. 7(1): 6–15.
http://www.carnivorousplants.it/desc.bokorensis.pdf
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Mey, F.S., M. Catalano, C. Clarke, A. Robinson, A. Fleischmann & S. McPherson (2010). Nepenthes holdenii (Nepenthaceae), a new species of pyrophytic pitcher plant from the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia. In: S.R. McPherson. Carnivorous Plants in their Habitats. Volume 2. Redfern Natural History Productions Ltd. Poole. pp. 1306-1331.
http://www.carnivorousplants.it/desc.holdenii.pdf
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Mey, F. S. (2010). The elusive Nepenthes thorelii. In: S.R. McPherson. Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats. Volume 2. Redfern Natural History Productions Ltd. Poole. pp. 1340-1367.
http://www.carnivorousplants.it/thorelii.history.pdf
Mey, F.S. (2010). Introduction to the pitcher plants (Nepenthes) of Cambodia. Cambodian Journal of Natural History (2): 106–117.
http://www.carnivorousplants.it/mey2010.pdf
Gronemeyer, T., A. Wistuba, V. Heinrich, S. McPherson, F. Mey & A. Amoroso (2010). Nepenthes hamiguitanensis (Nepenthaceae), a new pitcher plant species from Mindanao Island, Philippines. In: S.R. McPherson. Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats. Volume 2. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. pp. 1296–1305.
McPherson, S., J. Cervancia, C. Lee, M. Jaunzems, A. Fleischmann, F. Mey, E. Gironella & A. Robinson (2010). Nepenthes gantungensis (Nepenthaceae), a new pitcher plant species from Mount Gantung, Palawan, Philippines. In: S.R. McPherson. Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats. Volume 2. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. pp. 1286–1295.
McPherson, S., J. Cervancia, C. Lee, M. Jaunzems, A. Fleischmann, F. Mey, E. Gironella & A. Robinson (2010). Nepenthes palawanensis (Nepenthaceae), a new pitcher plant species from Sultan Peak, Palawan Island, Philippines. In: S.R. McPherson. Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats. Volume 2.
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Mey, F. S., L. Hong Truong, V. D. Dang, A. Robinson (2012). Nepenthes thorelii Lecomte, an emended description and novel ecological data resulting from its rediscovery in Tay Ninh, Vietnam. New Nepenthes. In: S.R. McPherson. Redfern Natural History Productions Ltd. Poole.
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Mey, F. S. (2012). Nepenthes thorelii - a resolution. New Nepenthes. In: S.R. McPherson. Redfern Natural History Productions Ltd. Poole. (This is not a scientific paper but an informal field report).
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Holden J. & F. S. Mey (2012). Discovery of a new population of Nepenthes holdenii. New Nepenthes. In: S.R. McPherson. Redfern Natural History Productions Ltd. Poole.
http://carnivorousockhom.blogspot.com/2012/02/another-paper-short-communication-on.html
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Holden J. & F. S. Mey (2012). Nepenthes carpet phenomenon in the Cardamom Mountains. New Nepenthes. In: S.R. McPherson. Redfern Natural History Productions Ltd. Poole.
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Kosterin, O.E., Chartier, G., Holden J. & Mey, F.S. (2012). New records of Odonata from Cambodia, based mostly on photographs. Cambodian Journal of Natural History, 150-163.
Gronemeyer, T., F. Coritico, A. Wistuba, D. Marwinski, T. Gieray, M. Micheler, F. S. Mey & V. Amoroso (2014). Four new species of Nepenthes L. (Nepenthaceae) from the central mountains of Mindanao, Philippines. Plants 3( 2): 284–303.
Gronemeyer, T. W. Suarez, H. Nuytemans, M. Calamaro, A. Wistuba, F. S. Mey & V. B. Amoroso (2016). Two new Nepenthes species from the Philippines and an emended description of Nepenthes ramos. Plants 5 (2) : 23.
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Bianchi A., C.C. Lee, M.R. Golos, F.S. Mey, M. Mansur, Y.M. Mambrasar & A.S. Robinson (2020). Nepenthes diabolica (Nepenthaceae), a new species of toothed pitcher plant from Central Sulawesi. Phytotaxa 464(1): 29–48.
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Maquart, P-O., Mey, F.S., Chhuoy K., Heng K., Chhum M., Suor K. & Boyer, S. (2021) Report of carnivorous plants (Droseraceae, Lentibulariaceae and Nepenthaceae) from seasonally dry savannahs in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. Cambodian Journal of Natural History, 2021, 1–4.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357576145_Report_of_carnivorous_plants_Droseraceae_Lentibulariaceae_and_Nepenthaceae_from_seasonally_dry_savannahs_in_Ratanakiri_Province_Cambodia
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Tan, H.L., Lim, G., Mey, F.S., Golos M.R., Wistuba, A., McPherson S.R., and Robinson, A.S. (2023) Nepenthes berbulu (Nepenthaceae), a pitcher plant from Peninsular Malaysia with remarkably long lid bristles. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, vol. 52 (1): 15-43.
https://cpn.carnivorousplants.org/arti.../CPNv52n1p15_43.pdf
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Lim G., Golos M.R., Mey F.S., Wistuba A., McPherson S.R., and Robinson A.S. (2023). Delimitation of the Nepenthes macfarlanei group with two species described as new. In: McPherson, S.R. Nepenthes: The Tropical Pitcher Plants. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole, 2085-2195.
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Golos, M.R., Mey, F.S., Wistuba, A., Lim, G., McPherson, S.R. and Robinson, A.S. 2023. Nepenthes limiana (Nepenthaceae), a new pitcher plant from the northern Titiwangsa Range of Peninsular Malaysia. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter. 52(3): 128–153.
https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn523.mg603
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Golos, M.R., Nerz, J., Mey, F.S. & Wistuba, A. 2024. Heliamphora electrum (Sarraceniaceae), an enigmatic species of marsh pitcher plant from the Sierra de Lema of Venezuela, Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 53(1): 4–51.
https://cpn.carnivorousplants.org/articles/CPNv53n1p4_51.pdf
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