Chelsea Physic Garden was founded by the Worshipful Society of
Apothecaries in 1673 as a resource providing plant material for the
training of apothecaries. For most of its existence, the Garden has been
a focus for botanists, taxonomists, students and horticulturists both
for employing their skills and in training the next generation. These
activities have been supported by the work of plant illustrators. It is
the purpose of this book to display the work of talented late twentieth-
and early twenty-first century botanical artists, members of Chelsea
Physic Garden Florilegium Society, whose explicit aim is to illustrate
plants in cultivation in the Garden. In 1995 the Chelsea Physic Garden
Florilegium Society was co-founded by Margaret King and Wendy Page. It
is a group of artists, the first cohort of which had been studying for a
Diploma in botanical illustration at the English Gardening School at
Chelsea Physic Garden. The principal aim of the Society is to illustrate
all the plants in cultivation at the Garden. Botanical Illustration from
Chelsea Physic Garden includes selected works from the garden's archive,
which now totals about 500 works. The seventy-eight illustrations
reproduced include one in pen-and-ink and three in graphite ( lead
pencil), all examples of work by masters of their technique. Also
included is one work in colored pencil which is, even on close
inspection, indistinguishable from the best water-color painting.
Wherever possible, the plates are accompanied by notes about the uses of
the plants, as well as the botanical name of the plant and its family.
