If the 19th Century truly had provided the Victorians with means and method to travel to Mars, then there’s no doubt in my mind they would have brought along an exobotanist or two to catalogue the new and exciting plant life of the red planet.  Perhaps they would have initially been reduced to bringing back dried or pressed samples, but eventually Steampunk Wardian-like cases would have been constructed – isolated and contained living environments for the peculiar plants to exist within, designed for their peculiar and alien needs.

Above, you can see a very well appointed containment device for a mere seeding of the carnivorus muscipula – a carnivorous plant that in its immature form can subsist on soil nutrients.  With a near-vacuum created within the system, and a self-contained nutrient cycle, the sample could be assured of many years of study and conversation topic star status.  This particular containment device comes with illustrations and notes about the plant, and some wag has decided to nickname this specimen “Chompy”.  (Compare real Wardian cases, and miniature biospheres.)

Another wonderful example (and according to him slightly more ‘pulp’ styled than his usual creations) from AlexCF, who recently changed his website.  The Martian Botanical Preservation Device is on Ebay for the next 12 hours or so, if you simply must have a Steampunk version of Audrey from The Little Shop of Horrors!  Wonderful work, Alex, and congratulations to you and Ms Suzanne on the lovely new site!