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Until the nineteenth century, the investigation of natural phenomena, plants and animals was considered either the preserve of elite scholars or a pastime for the leisured upper classes. As increasing academic rigour and systematisation was brought to the study of 'natural history', its subdisciplines were adopted into university curricula, and learned societies (such as the Royal Horticultural Society, founded in 1804) were established to support research in these areas. A related development was strong enthusiasm for exotic garden plants, which resulted in plant collecting expeditions to every corner of the globe, sometimes with tragic consequences. This series includes accounts of some of those expeditions, detailed reference works on the flora of different regions, and practical advice for amateur and professional gardeners.

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222 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Botany and Horticulture

Page 10 of 12

Memoirs of the Botanic Garden at Chelsea
  • Belonging to the Society of Apothecaries of London
  • Henry Field
  • Edited by R. H. Semple
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    15 December 2011
    First published in:
    1878
  • Henry Field (1755–1837) was a British apothecary and member of the Society of Apothecaries of London. Besides serving in various administrative capacities for the Society, as well as for the London Annuity Society (founded by his father), he was nominated in 1831 as one of the medical officers for the City of London board of health, charged with taking precautions against an outbreak of cholera in the city. A lecturer and regular contributor to medical journals, Field is also the author of this history of the Chelsea Physic Garden, first published in 1820. The present reissue, published in 1878, was revised and extended by Robert Hunter Semple (1815–91). The garden was originally created by the Society as a professional resource in 1673 and the book covers its development up to 1878, and also includes a ground plan of the garden in that year.

Flora Australiensis
  • A Description of the Plants of the Australian Territory
  • Volume 2, Leguminosae to Combretaceae
  • George Bentham, Ferdinand von Mueller
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1864
  • George Bentham (1800–84) was one of Britain's most influential botanists, whose own collection of plant specimens numbered more than 100,000. Although he donated his herbarium to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1854, he continued to make significant contributions to the field, including this exhaustive, seven-volume work detailing the plant life of Australia, which was published from 1863 to 1878. It was part of a series of works commissioned by the British government to document the flora in its colonies. Using the extensive numbers of specimens at Kew - and with the help of Ferdinand Mueller (1825–96), a German botanist in Australia - Bentham was able to compile descriptions of more than 8,000 species of Australian plants, making these volumes the first completed compendium of the flora of any large continental area. Volume 2, published in 1864, gives descriptions of seven orders of the dicotyledon class of flowering plant.

A Selection from the Physiological and Horticultural Papers Published in the Transactions of the Royal and Horticultural Societies
  • Thomas Andrew Knight
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    24 November 2011
    First published in:
    1841
  • Thomas Andrew Knight (1759–1838) was a distinguished British naturalist and botanist who is often regarded as the father of nineteenth-century horticultural science. From 1811 to 1838 Knight was the president of the Royal Horticultural Society and his interest in structural biology, plant physiology and plant breeding is evident in this collection of papers, published in 1841. On his country estate in Herefordshire, Knight devoted his time to research and writing, and carried out experiments on plants and trees. He published papers on his theories about such physiological problems as the ascent and descent of sap and how buds are produced. The main focus, however, is on Knight's own practical work: building greenhouses and experimenting with plant nutrition, fertilisation and the improvement of fruit trees by selective breeding (work later appreciated by Darwin). In an interesting chapter on animals, Knight relates his observations on the behaviour of bees and dogs.

Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Progress of Botany in England
  • From its Origin to the Introduction of the Linnaean System
  • Volume 2
  • Richard Pulteney
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1790
  • Richard Pulteney (1730–1801) was a Leicestershire physician whose medical career suffered both from a lack of aristocratic patronage and from his dissenting religious background. However, his lifelong interest in botany and natural history, and particularly his work on the new Linnaean system of botanical classification, led to publications in the Gentleman's Magazine and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1762. His book on Linnaeus (also reissued in this series), first published in 1782, was later considered to be of great significance for the acceptance in England of the Linnaean system, and this two-volume work, published in 1790, is still relevant to the study of the history of botany. Volume 2 includes the development of botanical gardens, famous figures such as Dillenius and Sherard, and the study of botany in Scotland and Ireland.

Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Progress of Botany in England
  • From its Origin to the Introduction of the Linnaean System
  • Volume 1
  • Richard Pulteney
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1790
  • Richard Pulteney (1730–1801) was a Leicestershire physician whose medical career suffered both from a lack of aristocratic patronage and from his dissenting religious background. However, his lifelong interest in botany and natural history, and particularly his work on the new Linnaean system of botanical classification, led to publications in the Gentleman's Magazine and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1762. His book on Linnaeus (also reissued in this series), first published in 1782, was later considered to be of great significance for the acceptance in England of the Linnaean system, and this two-volume work, published in 1790, is still relevant to the study of the history of botany. Volume 1 begins in 'primaeval' and 'druidical' times and continues to the seventeenth century, including the first printed herbals and the work of the great botanist John Ray.

Recollections of a Happy Life
  • Being the Autobiography of Marianne North
  • Volume 2
  • Marianne North
  • Edited by Janet Symonds
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1892
  • Marianne North (1830–90), the Victorian amateur botanist and painter, travelled to distant countries of the world to paint exotic flora in their natural surroundings. This two-volume collection of her memoirs, edited by her sister and published in 1892, records North's remarkable travels. Laden with her palettes and easels, the independent North travelled alone and fended for herself. Her journals describe how she endured swarms of insects, scaled cliffs, trudged through wilderness and crossed swamps in order to reach the plants she wanted to paint. Volume 2 covers North's travels to Australia and New Zealand, which she undertook at the suggestion of Charles Darwin. The work concludes with the last journey she made, to Chile in 1884–5, to paint the monkey-puzzle tree in its natural habitat. This autobiography reveals the stories behind North's art, which can still be appreciated today since her vivid paintings are displayed at Kew Gardens.

Memorials of Sir C. J. F. Bunbury, Bart
  • Volume 5, Later Life Part 1
  • Charles James Fox Bunbury
  • Edited by Frances Horner Bunbury, Katharine Horner Lyell
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1891
  • Sir Charles James Fox Bunbury (1809–86), the distinguished botanist and geologist, corresponded regularly with Lyell, Horner, Darwin and Hooker among others, and helped them in identifying botanical fossils. He was active in the scientific societies of his time, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1851. This nine-volume edition of his letters and diaries was published privately by his wife Frances Horner and her sister Katherine Lyell between 1890 and 1893. His copious journal and letters give an unparalleled view of the scientific and cultural society of Victorian England, and of the impact of Darwin's theories on his contemporaries. Volume 5 covers the years 1865–8, and shows Bunbury's wide reading, from Latin poetry and military history to new books such as the latest edition of Lyell's Elements of Geology, as well as an interesting correspondence between Bunbury, Lyell, Hooker and Darwin about Agassiz's theories on glaciation.

A Text-Book of Botany
  • Morphological and Physiological
  • Julius Sachs
  • Edited and translated by Alfred W. Bennett
  • Assisted by W. T. Thiselton Dyer
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1875
  • Julius Sachs (1832–97) was an important and influential German botanist. He attended Charles University in Prague, gaining his doctorate in 1856. After appointments in Dresden, Chemnitz and Bonn, he took a professorship at the University of Freiburg in 1867. A year later he accepted a chair at Würzburg, where he stayed for the rest of his career. Sachs made important contributions across botanical science, notably in cytology and photosynthesis. He was also largely responsible for the leap in understanding of plant physiology that took place in the second half of the nineteenth century. His famous Textbook of Botany, published here in the 1875 English translation of the final German edition (1874), takes the physiological approach that he pioneered and features hundreds of instructive illustrations and a full index. It was the most influential botanical text of its day, and the standard textbook on the subject for many years.

Memoir and Correspondence of the Late Sir James Edward Smith, M.D.
  • Volume 2
  • James Edward Smith
  • Edited by Pleasance Smith
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    24 November 2011
    First published in:
    1832
  • Originally published in 1832, this two-volume account of the life of Sir James Edward Smith (1759–1828) was posthumously compiled by his wife, Pleasance (1773–1877). Smith trained originally as a doctor, but his independent wealth enabled him to pursue botany. Hugely influenced by the work of Linnaeus, he benefited greatly from the purchase of the latter's library and herbarium in 1783, upon the advice of his friend, Sir Joseph Banks. He was highly regarded throughout Europe as a botanist, and in 1788 founded the Linnean Society. He published various botanical works, of which the most important was The English Flora (1824–8), and assisted in the publication of many more. His wife recounts his 'religious, social and scientific character' as well as his achievements, and Volume 2 includes correspondence from Alexander von Humboldt, and concludes with an appendix in which short papers by Smith present a variety of topics.

English Naturalists from Neckam to Ray
  • A Study of the Making of the Modern World
  • Charles E. Raven
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1947
  • C. E. Raven (1885–1964) was an academic theologian elected Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge in 1932, who developed an interest in natural history and the history of scientific thought. First published in 1947, this volume demonstrates how changing attitudes to the natural world reflected and influenced the transformations in scientific thought between the medieval period and the eighteenth century. Raven's focus on the field of 'natural history' reveals how the scientific ideas behind modern biological studies developed from the richly illustrated and often fantastical bestiaries of the medieval world. The subjects of this volume are grouped chronologically into Pioneers, Explorers and Popularisers, with biographical details woven together with discussions of their academic work. The book provided a wealth of new information concerning the founders of natural history and remains a valuable contribution to this subject.

The Ferns (Filicales)
  • Treated Comparatively with a View to their Natural Classification
  • Volume 1, Analytical Examination of the Criteria of Comparison
  • F. O. Bower
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1923
  • Frederick Orpen Bower (1855–1948) was a renowned botanist best known for his research on the origins and evolution of ferns. Appointed Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow in 1885, he became a leading figure in the development of modern botany and the emerging field of paleobotany, devising the interpolation theory of the life cycle in land plants. First published between 1923 and 1928 as part of the Cambridge Botanical Handbook series, The Ferns was the first systematic classification of ferns according to anatomical, morphological and developmental features. In this three-volume work Bower analyses the major areas of comparison between different species, describes primitive and fossil ferns and compares these species to present-day fern species, providing a comprehensive description of the order. Volume 1 describes and analyses the features of ferns which Bower uses in his system of classification.

Monocotyledons
  • A Morphological Study
  • Agnes Arber
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1925
  • Agnes Arber (1879–1960) was a prominent British botanist specialising in plant morphology, who focused her research on the monocotyledon group of flowering plants. She was the first female botanist to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, in 1946. This volume, first published as part of the Cambridge Botanical Handbooks series in 1925, provides an anatomical and comparative study of the monocotyledon group of plants with an analysis of the methods and objects of studying plant morphology. At the time of publication, comparative anatomy and morphology were the centre of botanical investigation; however there were differences between British and continental biologists concerning the aims of morphological study. In the introduction to this volume Arber reconciled these views by describing a distinction between pure and applied morphology, interpreting the differences in monocotyledonous species in light of this. The book contains an extensive bibliography and 160 figures.

Makers of British Botany
  • A Collection of Biographies by Living Botanists
  • Edited by F. W. Oliver
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1913
  • First published in 1913, this volume reproduces a series of lectures on influential botanists delivered in 1911 in the Botanical Department of University College, London. The subjects of these biographies include Sir William Hooker (1785–1865), the first Director of Kew, and John Ray (1627–1705), considered the founder of scientific botany in Britain. The biographies are written by distinguished botanists of the period, over half of them holding a university professorship and membership of the Royal Society. Edited by F. W. Oliver (1864–1951), Professor of Botany at University College, London, from 1890 to 1929, these essays provide information on the lives, and discuss the scientific contributions, of each botanist, each contributor specialising in the same area of botany as the subject. The wide range of subjects covered demonstrates the development of key botanical concepts and the growth of scientific botany in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

A History of English Gardening, Chronological, Biographical, Literary, and Critical
  • Tracing the Progress of the Art in This Country from the Invasion of the Romans to the Present Time
  • George William Johnson
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    03 October 2011
    First published in:
    1829
  • In this informative study of Britain's rich horticultural history, first published in 1829, George W. Johnson (1802–66), a chemist, political economist and practising gardener, traces the history of gardening in England. He argues that the pursuit is an art which, like other art forms, developed by way of experiments and chance discoveries. The basic facts we know today, such as that vines must be watered, that plants flourish on exposure to the sun, and that animal manure helps to cultivate vegetables, all came about as a result of findings being passed down through many generations, and practice being improved through experience. Tracing the cultural importance of gardening back to biblical times, and relating it to the works of classical writers such as Hesiod, Cato and Cicero, as well as modern scholars such as Linnaeus and Banks, Johnson's work remains of interest to horticulturalists and botanists today.

Fungi
  • Ascomycetes, Ustilaginales, Uredinales
  • Helen Gwynne-Vaughan
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1922
  • Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan (1879–1967) was a prominent British mycologist, specialising in the sexual process of fungi. In 1909 she was appointed Head of the Department of Botany at Birkbeck College, becoming Professor of Botany when Birkbeck College joined the University of London in 1920. This volume was first published in 1922 as part of the Cambridge Botanical Handbooks series. The introduction provides a detailed description of the structure, sexual reproduction, parasitism and symbiosis of all fungi, with subsequent chapters describing fully the morphology and reproduction of genera within the phylum ascomycetes and the orders ustilaginales and uredinales on which Gwynne-Vaughan based her research. Illustrations and a bibliography accompany each chapter. This volume provides an insight into the study of mycology in the early twentieth century, before technological advances in the field of cytology revolutionized the discipline.

Algae
  • Volume 1, Myxophyceae, Peridinieae, Bacillarieae, Chlorphyceae
  • G. S. West
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1916
  • George Stephen West (1876–1919) was a prominent British botanist specialising in freshwater algae. In 1906 he became a lecturer in botany at the University of Birmingham and was later appointed the Mason Professor of Botany. This volume was first published in 1916 as the first of the Cambridge Botanical Handbooks series and provides a description of both marine and freshwater algae in the Myxophyceae, Peridinieae, Bacillarieae and Chlorophyceae classes. West describes the habitat, biological conditions, distribution, internal and external structures and life history of these algae in great detail, with a bibliography concluding each chapter. The book provided the first detailed description of the Myxophyceae (or blue-green) class of algae, and provides an insight into knowledge and classification of algae at the time of publication. A second volume containing a full taxonomic account of freshwater algae was planned, but not published owing to the author's death in 1919.

Herbals: Their Origin and Evolution
  • A Chapter in the History of Botany, 1470–1670
  • Agnes Arber
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1938
  • Agnes Arber (1879–1960) was a prominent British botanist specialising in plant morphology and the history of botany. In 1946 she became the first female botanist to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. First published in 1912 and issued in an expanded second edition in 1938, this volume traces the history and development of printed herbals between 1470 and 1670. This two-hundred-year period was the most prolific for the publication of herbals, and significantly saw the emergence of botany as a scientific discipline within the study of natural history. Although Arber mentions the medical aspects of the herbal, her analysis remains focused on investigating herbals from a botanical view, with chapters devoted to the evolution of plant descriptions, classifications and illustrations. Her book remains the standard work on this subject. The text of this volume is taken from a 1953 reissue of the 1938 second edition.

Water Plants
  • A Study of Aquatic Angiosperms
  • Agnes Arber
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1920
  • Agnes Arber (1879–1960) was a prominent British botanist specialising in plant morphology and comparative anatomy. In 1946, she became the first female botanist to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. First published in 1920, this volume provides a detailed anatomical study of aquatic flowering plants, with a discussion of their evolutionary history. Arber describes the general anatomical and reproductive organs, life histories and physiological adaptations of aquatic plants in detail, with interpretations informed from her previous experimental work. The final section of this volume discusses the evolutionary history of aquatic plants in the light of affinities to terrestrial flowering plants. Arber's account of aquatic plants was the first general description of these plants published, and provides a classic example of the comparative anatomy studies which were central to botanical investigation during the early twentieth century. An extensive bibliography and over 170 illustrations are included in this volume.

The Ferns (Filicales)
  • Treated Comparatively with a View to their Natural Classification
  • Volume 3, The Leptosporangiate Ferns
  • F. O. Bower
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1928
  • Frederick Orpen Bower (1855–1948) was a renowned botanist best known for his research on the origins and evolution of ferns. Appointed Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow in 1885, he became a leading figure in the development of modern botany and the emerging field of paleobotany, devising the interpolation theory of the life cycle in land plants. First published between 1923 and 1928 as part of the Cambridge Botanical Handbook series, The Ferns was the first systematic classification of ferns according to anatomical, morphological and developmental features. In this three-volume work Bower analyses the major areas of comparison between different species, describes primitive and fossil ferns and compares these species to present-day fern species, providing a comprehensive description of the order. Volume 3 describes, analyses and classifies extant species of ferns.

Journal Kept by David Douglas during his Travels in North America 1823–1827
  • Together with a Particular Description of Thirty-Three Species of American Oaks and Eighteen Species of Pinus
  • David Douglas
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    29 September 2011
    First published in:
    1914
  • David Douglas (1799–1834), the influential Scottish botanist and plant collector, trained as a gardener before attending Perth College and Glasgow University. His genius for botany flourished and his talents came to the attention of the Royal Horticultural Society. With the society's backing he went to North America in 1823, beginning his life-long fascination with the region's flora. He discovered thousands of new species and introduced 240 of them to Britain, including the Douglas fir. Douglas continued to explore and discover plant species until his death in the Sandwich Islands (present-day Hawaii) in 1834. This remarkable journal, which remained unpublished until 1914, describes his adventures in North America during 1823–7. It also includes extracts from his journal of his explorations of Hawaii during 1833–4. The appendices include a listing of the plants Douglas introduced to Britain, and contemporary accounts of investigations into the mysterious circumstances of his death.

Page 10 of 12