And making botanical illustrations for a patron is alive and well, she points out. Florilegia – documentation of all the plants growing in a specific garden – is a big thing right now, she says.

Ernest Manewal / Getty Images. American ginseng develops just one "pronged" leaf with several leaflets the first year. A maturing plant will continue to increase the number of prongs.

In 1901, a petite, independent-minded woman arrived at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney to begin work as their first botanical illustrator. A gifted artist, Margaret Flockton at 40 wore the demure ...

A botanical illustration can convey fine detail and provide a vision of the subject that may be lost in more general, less visually discriminating images, such as photographs.

The famous words come from his 1820 poem Ode on a Grecian Urn, but they are a fitting description for the practice of botanical art and illustration. It’s a place where art meets science - a ...

Not all of the illustrations are scientific; some of them simply showcase the characteristics of a top cola flower, seed or root. "Botanical illustration can do something cameras cannot do.