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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 8 of 12

Types of British Vegetation
  • By Members of the Central Committee for the Survey and Study of British Vegetation
  • Edited by A. G. Tansley
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 March 2012
    First published in:
    1911
  • Distinguished plant ecologist A. G. Tansley (1871–1955) is widely considered to be the father of British ecology. He was one of the founding members of the British Ecological Society and during his career he edited two important journals on the subject: The New Phytologist and the Journal of Ecology. He was also part of a committee formed in 1904 to survey systematically the vegetation of the British Isles. This book, edited by Tansley and first published in 1911, is the result of that survey. It contains contributions by leading botanists of the early twentieth century, and contains detailed maps, photographs and figures. The physical characteristics and climate of Britain are outlined early in the book and later the plant communities of particular areas such as moors, fens and the coast are discussed. This is a significant work that will appeal to both plant ecologists and natural historians.

The Natural Philosophy of Plant Form
  • Agnes Arber
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    23 February 2012
    First published in:
    1950
  • When she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1946, Agnes Arber (1879–1960) was one of only three women to have been admitted into the institution. Arber conducted research that focused mainly on the morphology of flowering plants, but her work is characterised by its explorations of historical botany and evolution. First published in 1950, this book widens the scope of morphology into a study of all aspects of form across the whole chronology of botany. Arber begins with Aristotle and investigates the work of early modern botanists like Bacon and Goethe, before examining the effects of this wider approach on subjects like evolution and taxonomy. Arguing that post-Darwinian doctrine often causes botanists to twist their observations to suit a hypothetical history of phylogenesis, rather than changing the hypothesis to suit observational facts, this bold and fascinating text will interest students of biology and philosophy alike.

Memorials of Sir C. J. F. Bunbury, Bart
  • Volume 6, Later Life Part 2
  • 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 6 covers the years 1869–72. Bunbury was less active in scientific matters than before, but still reading copiously, carrying on a busy social life, and developing the gardens of his home in Suffolk. There are many comments on current affairs and politics.

Home and Garden
  • Notes and Thoughts, Practical and Critical, of a Worker in Both
  • Gertrude Jekyll
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1900
  • Gertrude Jekyll (1843–1932), the distinguished and influential garden designer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, originally trained as an artist but later turned her hand to craftwork, gardening, and plant collecting and breeding. During her career she collaborated with distinguished architects such as Sir Edwin Lutyens and reached a popular audience through the publication of articles in newspapers and magazines such as William Robinson's The Garden. Jekyll's second book, first published in 1890, is a collection of her advice and reflections on a range of topics, particularly those relating to her own home, Munstead Wood. It contains chapters on particular plants, and gives guidance on projects such as building rock gardens, as well as more idiosyncratic pieces on her cats, or the importance of one's own tools. Jekyll's informal tone and the range of topics discussed make this a fascinating work of social and gardening history.

Memorials of Sir C. J. F. Bunbury, Bart
  • Volume 7, Later Life Part 3
  • 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:
    1892
  • 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 7 covers the years 1873–7. With advancing age there are many notices of deaths or illnesses of friends or colleagues, such as Sedgwick, Agassiz and Lyell, but Bunbury was still enthusiastically discussing his reading with correspondents.

Elements of the Philosophy of Plants
  • Containing the Principles of Scientific Botany; Nomenclature, Theory of Classification, Phythography; Anatomy, Chemistry, Physiology, Geography, and Diseases of Plants
  • Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, Kurt Sprengel
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    15 December 2011
    First published in:
    1821
  • This treatise on scientific botany brings together the works of two leading European scientists from the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778–1841) and the German botanist and physicist Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel (1766–1833). First published in German in 1820, it was almost immediately translated (anonymously) into English and published in Edinburgh by Blackwood in 1821. This collaborative volume includes three chapters from de Candolle's Théorie élémentaire de la botanique published in Paris in 1819, while the remaining texts and the preface were written by Sprengel; at the time, it provided significant advances on previous botanical theories such as the work of German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow (1765–1812). A fascinating document on the evolution of botanical science, the book contains a practical section detailing the characteristics of over forty plants, as well as eight illustrations.

Chapters in my Life
  • Leonard Jenyns
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1889
  • Leonard Jenyns (1800–93; he changed his name late in life to benefit from a legacy), was a clergyman, and a respected naturalist and zoologist. A distinguished member of a dozen scientific societies, he was educated at Eton, and then at St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1822. During his tenure as vicar in Swaffham Bulbeck, he made important contributions to zoology, becoming one of the original members of the Zoological Society of London. In 1831, unwilling to spend years away from his parish responsibilities, he turned down the chance to travel as the naturalist on-board H.M.S. Beagle. Published in 1889, this is the second edition of Jenyns' autobiography, which he had first had privately printed. It starts with the major events of his life, then shares a series of scientific anecdotes, including his decision to recommend Darwin instead of himself as the naturalist for the Beagle voyage.

Memorials of Sir C. J. F. Bunbury, Bart
  • Volume 1, Early Life
  • 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 1 begins with a short autobiographical memoir written by Bunbury towards the end of his life, and ends with his marriage to Frances Horner in 1844. It demonstrates his interest in science, encouraged by his parents and continued at Cambridge and during travels in Europe and South America.

Memorials of Sir C. J. F. Bunbury, Bart
  • Volume 2, Middle 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:
    1890
  • 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 2 covers the years 1844–8, and shows how Bunbury's marriage brought him into close contact with the geologist Charles Lyell, whom he greatly admired, and who became his brother-in-law. His diaries mention attending lectures by Sedgwick and Owen, and socialising with Babbage and Henslow among others.

Memoir and Correspondence of the Late Sir James Edward Smith, M.D.
  • Volume 1
  • 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 character as well as his achievements, using both narrative and 'various familiar and domestic letters' to do so. Volume 1 includes letters from Banks and Samuel Goodenough, bishop of Carlisle and Smith's close botanical friend.

Flora Indica
  • Being a Systematic Account of the Plants of British India, Together with Observations on the Structure and Affinities of their Natural Order and Genera
  • Joseph Dalton Hooker, Thomas Thomson
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1855
  • Sir Joseph Hooker (1817–1911) was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the nineteenth century. He succeeded his father, Sir William Jackson Hooker, as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and was a close friend and supporter of Charles Darwin. His journey to the Himalayas and India, during which he collected some 7,000 species, was undertaken between 1847 and 1851 to increase the Kew collections; his account of the expedition (also reissued in this series) was dedicated to Darwin. In 1855 he published Flora Indica with his fellow-traveller Thomas Thomson, who became Superintendent of the East India Company's Botanic Garden at Calcutta. Lack of support from the Company meant that only the first volume of a projected series was published. However, the introductory essay on the geographical relations of India's flora is considered to be one of Hooker's most important statements on biogeographical issues.

Memorials of Sir C. J. F. Bunbury, Bart
  • Volume 9, Later Life Part 5
  • 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:
    1893
  • 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. The final volume covers the years 1884–6. Bunbury's health was declining, but he kept up his journal- and letter-writing (although many of his contemporaries had predeceased him), and had many visitors. The volume ends with tributes written by his many friends.

The Wild Garden
  • Or, Our Groves and Shrubberies Made Beautiful
  • William Robinson
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    24 November 2011
    First published in:
    1870
  • An Irish-born gardener and writer, William Robinson (1838–1935) travelled widely to study gardens and gardening in Europe and America. He founded a weekly illustrated periodical, The Garden, in 1871, which he owned until 1919, and published numerous books on different aspects of horticulture. His most famous book, The English Flower Garden (also reprinted in this series), was published in 1883, and fifteen editions were issued in his lifetime. The Wild Garden, published in 1870, attacks contemporary fashions in public parks and private gardens, which involved showy masses of colour in labour-intensive summer bedding, using mostly subtropical and exotic species. He calls for a return to native species, found in traditional English gardens, pointing out that these are more economical than short-lived annuals, and that there is much greater variety available to the garden designer. He suggests plants more suitable for the English climate, and exotics more capable of naturalisation.

Memorials of Sir C. J. F. Bunbury, Bart
  • Volume 8, Later Life Part 4
  • 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:
    1892
  • 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 8 covers the years 1878–83. Family and social matters, and comments on the disturbed political state of Europe, and British military engagements in Africa and Afghanistan, predominate, although Bunbury also comments on plants he has seen and books he has read.

Flora Australiensis
  • A Description of the Plants of the Australian Territory
  • Volume 5, Myoporineae to Proteacrea
  • George Bentham, Ferdinand von Mueller
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1870
  • 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 5, published in 1870, gives the details of 14 orders of monopetalae and monochlamydeae dicotyledon flora.

The Fern Garden
  • How to Make, Keep, and Enjoy It
  • Shirley Hibberd
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    07 October 2011
    First published in:
    1869
  • James Shirley Hibberd (1825–90) was a journalist and writer on gardening, whose popular works had great influence on middle-class taste. Although not a trained horticulturalist, his many books were based on practical experience. He developed a succession of gardens in north London concentrating on particular types of plants, and his books reflected this work, with the Rose Book (1864) and the Fern Garden (1869) being particularly successful. He also wrote on garden design, flower arrangement, garden furniture and architecture, and his Rustic Adornments of 1856, also published in this series, is an important work of social and fashion history. He edited the magazine Floral World until 1875 and later the Gardener's Magazine, and was even consulted by the government about potato blight. His engaging and very personal style made him a popular forerunner of modern celebrity gardeners, and set a fashion for highly decorative and ornamental gardens.

Flora Australiensis
  • A Description of the Plants of the Australian Territory
  • Volume 1, Ranunculaceae to Anacardiaceae
  • George Bentham, Ferdinand von Mueller
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1863
  • 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 1, published in 1863, introduces the project and describes 39 orders of the dicotyledon class of flora.

A Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit-Trees
  • In Which a New Method of Pruning and Training is Fully Described
  • William Forsyth
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1802
  • In this work, first published in 1802 and followed by many subsequent editions, the famous horticulturalist William Forsyth (c. 1737–1804) gives an exhaustive guide to the cultivation of fruit trees and advises on pests and diseases. Forsyth was appointed superintendent of the Royal Gardens of St James and Kensington in 1784, and was also one of the founders of the (now Royal) Horticultural Society. The work is divided into two parts: in the first, various kinds of fruit trees, including soft fruit and nuts, are described in detail. Forsyth explains how to plant and prune them and gives advice on harvesting and storing the produce. In the short second part, Forsyth discusses the need for better care of both fruit and forest trees (good-quality timber being needed especially in time of war), and advocates a 'Composition' of his own invention for improving the health of diseased and damaged trees.

The British Pomology
  • The History, Description, Classification, and Synonymes, of the Fruits and Fruit Trees of Great Britain
  • Robert Hogg
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1851
  • Robert Hogg (1817–97), son of a Scots nurseryman, was destined for a career in medicine, but abandoned his studies to pursue horticulture. Employed by a famous London tree nursery, he travelled widely in Britain and Europe to study gardening practice. This work, first published in 1851, was intended to encourage a taste for the 'most important, most instructive, and intellectual branch of horticultural science' - the cultivation of fruit. (The book is subtitled 'The Apple', as though further volumes on other fruit were intended, but none appeared, though Hogg did publish The Fruit Manual (also reissued in this series) in 1860.) It lists and gives detailed descriptions, including drawings, of 401 apples in cultivation in Great Britain, and a further 541 of which Hogg had no direct knowledge. He provides classification lists by fruit colour, shape, seasonality and region - a fascinating resource for the history of horticulture and of food.

A General View of the Writings of Linnaeus
  • To Which is Annexed the Diary of Linnaeus, Written by Himself, and Now Translated into English, from the Swedish Manuscript in the Possession of the Editor
  • Richard Pulteney, Carl Linnaeus
  • Edited by William George Maton
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1782
  • Carl Linnaeus (1707–88), father of modern taxonomy, was one of the most important scientists of the eighteenth century. This biography was written by Richard Pulteney (1730–1801), a physician and botanist who greatly admired Linnaeus' methods and aimed to promote them in England. The first edition was published in 1781 and contains a thorough account of the major works of Linnaeus and his unpublished papers. As well as details of his academic career, the work also gives insights into Linnaeus' character and personal life. The second edition, reissued here, was edited by William George Maton (1774–1835), a physician and member of the Linnean Society, and published in 1805. It contains in addition a memoir of Pulteney and a translation of a Swedish life of Linnaeus based on his own notes. The book is a rich source of information on a central figure in the history of botany.

Page 8 of 12