Flora Japonica

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Japanese indigenous plants have fascinated botanists and horticulturalists for the past two centuries, and their discoveries still have a strong influence on the plants of today. Botanists such as Kaempfer, Thunberg, von Siebold, and Maximowicz visited Japan between the 17th and 19th centuries, and communicated and corresponded with many Japanese botanists; identifying, naming and classifying many native plants and sending specimens around the world. Many beautiful Japanese plants (e.g. Hydrangea, Lily, Hosta, Camellia) were introduced into European countries, influencing horticulture and the breeding of new varieties. And as a result, this interest in Japanese flora led to a stimulation of activity amongst botanical painters in Japan in depicting the native flora. Flora Japonica is a beautiful celebration of modern Japanese botanical art, featuring 80 specially commissioned botanical paintings of Japanese wild plants, contributed by 30 of the countrys best contemporary artists. Each paintings is accompanied by text about the plant, including its natural history as well as botanical description and details of the specimen origin. Biographies of all 30 artists are included.

Reviews

"Glorious. . . . Illustrations include sketch books from the late 1600s right through to work from contemporary botanical artists." --Palette & Petal

Author Bio

Masumi Yamanaka is an award winning botanical artist currently based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and co-author of Treasured Trees (Kew Publishing, 2015). Hideaki Ohba is a professor in the department of Botany at the University Museum, University of Tokyo, and author of Endangered Plants of Japan: A Florelegium (Aboc-sha & Co, 2004). Martyn Rix is a renowned horticulturalist, and author of many books including The Golden Age of Botanical Art (Andre Deutsch) and co-author of Treasured Trees (Kew Publishing, 2015), and editor of Curtiss Botanical Magazine, published by Kew.