At first glance, this gorgeous volume appears to be an art book, but the nature of its art, hundreds of superior botanical illustrations reaching back several centuries and chronicling nearly 500 years of plant exploration and horticultural experimentation, defines it as a work of science history. Elliott, librarian and archivist at the Royal Horticultural Society, focuses not on plant hunters but on the plants themselves, summarizing stories of a botanical diaspora that changed the flora of Europe and the style and mission of gardens. The "first great wave of plant introductions" arrived in Western Europe from Turkey in the mid-sixteenth century, bringing hyacinths and tulips. The Americas were also a fertile source for flowering plants such as sunflowers and zinnias, and floras from Africa (crinums), Asia (irises and chrysanthemums), and Australia (banksias) were embraced with equal fervor. Each precise yet expressive illustration is accompanied by a capsule history of the plant's introduction, reception, and use, and the reader is left in awe of nature's endless variations on the themes of beauty, adaptation, and procreation. Donna Seaman
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