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Arthur O. Tucker, Jules Janick. Springer, 2020

A detailed examination of the manuscript of 1552 now known as the Codex Cruz-Badianus, or the Aztec Herbal. The original Codex was written in the Nahuatl language in Mexico in 1552 by Martin de La Cruz, and translated into Latin by Juan Badiano. This book reproduces the 185 colour plant illustrations from the manuscript, with identification of the plants and translation of the text describing their medicinal uses by the Aztecs. Modern colour photographs of the plants are included.

Roy A. Earle, Janice E. Round. Artwork by Janet Snyman. Privately published, 2021

A beautifully-produced book which covers all aspects of these unique succulents, known as 'flowering stones' in their native South Africa. An account of 40 accepted species forms the core of the book, covering taxonomy, habitat and conservation, enhanced by numerous colour photographs and maps. A special feature of the book is the outstanding artwork by Janet Snyman, illustrating each of the species.

The book is a comprehensive and beautifully illustrated compendium of the characteristics and properties of the plants used in making beer around the world. More than 500 plant species are given a scientific description, an account of which parts of the plant are employed in brewing, as well as details of chemical composition, potential toxicity, and examples of beers and styles in which each plant is typically used. The author’s delicate black and white line drawings enhance every page.

Pioneering Victorian era British botanist Anna Atkins documented botanical species using a completely new artistic medium. The distinctive cyanotype photograms of algae and ferns she created were made into some of the first books to feature photographic images. The process, which involved fixing the object on sensitized paper and exposing it directly to sunlight, results in the Prussian blue pigment that forms the characteristic colouring to these artworks. Atkins’ albums “British Algae” (1843–1853) and “Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns” (1853) are both extremely rare works and are reprinted here in their entirety for the first time.

Mongolia is renowned for its unique natural ecosystems, including the southern edge of the Siberian Taiga meeting with the northern fringe of the Central Asian steppe and desert. Despite its ecological significance, the flora of Mongolia has remained somewhat mysterious. In a collaborative effort ranging from 2016 to 2021, the research team from Korea National Arboretum and the National University of Mongolia, as well as taxonomists from Japan, Russia, and China, surveyed the flora of Mongolia. They compiled a checklist of 3,041 plant species in Mongolia. The resulting book includes approximately 10,000 colour photos and detailed descriptions of the plants, along with some atmospheric illustrations of the Mongolian steppes.

The authors are both experienced nurserymen who specialise in succulent plants. This book gives detailed advice on agave propagation and a comprehensive listing of agave species and cultivars, with an emphasis on their use as architectural plants in garden design, illustrated with examples of gardens in California. Stunning colour photographs of the plants in their native habitats in the southern American states and in Mexico, form the bulk of the volume. The diversity of form and colour of these attractive plants is amazing.

Renowned botanist David Mabberley provides a ground-breaking analysis of early European understanding of Australia's flora. Combining science, horticulture, art and economics, this lavishly illustrated book – with many never before-published images – reveals the complex networks that led to the international spread of knowledge and the cultivation of hundreds of Australian plants in Europe in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The book features many full-page colour plates of historical botanical illustrations.

The author is a distinguished Sri Lankan conservationist and naturalist. His superbly illustrated book gives an account of Sri Lanka’s plantation cultures of cinnamon, tea, rubber and other commodities, from a modern post-colonial perspective. There are detailed histories of the botanical and zoological exploration of Ceylon, and of the relationship of Kew Gardens with Ceylon, as the country was then named.

This is the first modern facsimile edition of the 2 volumes of Blackwell’s famous herbal originally published 1737-39, and reproduces in full colour all 500 plates (in 1 volume). Blackwell not only made the drawings, from specimens in the Chelsea Physic Garden, but prepared the copper plates and personally hand-coloured them. She was the first female artist to publish a herbal, and her motivation was to raise the finances to free her bankrupt husband from debtor’s prison. In this she succeeded, and her volumes were acclaimed for their usefulness to medical practitioners of the day. The modern reader appreciates the beauty of the illustrations above all else. Two scholarly essays are included with the facsimile of the herbal itself.

Gentians are regarded as among the most beautiful wild flowers on earth, with colourful flowers, often in vivid shades of blue. This book is a scientific atlas that systematically describes the diversity of Gentianaceae plants, and is richly illustrated on every page with the author’s colour photographs of the flowers in their alpine habitats worldwide. A scholarly text in both English and Chinese combines with exquisite illustrations of these delicate flowers, selected from the results of 30 years field work.

The author has spent more than a decade photographing and documenting the rich biodiversity of Sri Lanka’s flora. This extensive fieldwork has borne impressive results, with the discovery of over 150 potentially new plant species, and the rediscovery of many flowering plants previously thought extinct in Sri Lanka. The author has added numerous preserved specimens to the National Herbarium in Peradeniya. This 655-page blockbuster of a book, not readily available outside Sri Lanka, combines hundreds of colour photographs of tropical flora combined with full taxonomic descriptions.