Author(s): Colleen Morris

Gardens/Garden Design

A florilegium of contemporary botanical paintings of historically significant plants has been created by the The Florilegium Society at The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney and donated to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust. Established botanical artists are invited to join the Society and the paintings accepted are of the highest standard, botanically accurate and painted as individual responses to the subject.The Society has published the Florilegium to celebrate the 200 year history of Australia's first botanic garden. Each of the 87 paintings has a full colour plate and is accompanied by a botanical description and text describing its place in the history of the Gardens through the collectors, the botanists, horticulturalists and directors, and to changing horticultural fashions. Examples of the vegetation that grew around Farm Cove in 1788 and those collected by the intrepid early superintendents Charles Fraser and Allan Cunningham represent the early part of the Garden's history. Introductions under Charles Moore and J H Maiden form a significant part of the collection. The late 20th century scientific work at the Gardens and plants associated with the establishment of the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mt Tomah and The Australian Botanic Garden, Mt Annan.Included is text about the florilegium society, an historical overview of the Gardens and biographies of the 64 artists and 2theauthors. The majority of the artists are Australian, as well as from the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, the USA, Canada, France and New Zealand.