Before botanists had photographs, they had paintings. The delicate watercolors of leaves, seeds, flowers, and fruit were objects of beauty as well as scientific tools, and the tradition of botanical painting is alive and well today. The Shirley Sherwood Collection at Kew Gardens is one of the most significant gatherings of botanical art, and in a lush new book, The Art of Plant Evolution, Sherwood and biologist John Kress explore modern examples of the genre. Thanks to their collaboration, the book is not only a stunning tour of jewels from Sherwood’s collection, but also an atlas organized according to the latest DNA analyses of the evolutionary relationships between plants.

From SEED Magazine ( http://seedmagazine.com/slideshow/art_of_plant_evolution/)