Monday...

By photographer Debi Treloar

Charles Plumier

Appointed botanist to King Louis XIV of France, Charles Plumier (1646-1704) is mostly noted for having discovered the Begonia, Fuchsia, Lobelia, Magnolia, and Plumeria (Apocynaceae, Frangipani). Below, are just a few of the exquisitely delicate illustrations from the series entitled Description des Plantes de l'Amerique, 1693...

Via here

Anton Seder

Oddly enough, I am unable to find any literature about Anton Seder (1850 - 1916), except for the fact that he was a botanical artist in the Art Nouveau period, and lived and worked in Germany. If there are any Seder-philes out there, I would love to hear from you...

Via here and here

Bunny's Greenhouse...

(Mellon, that is). To me, this is the ultimate in luxury - a room devoted to all things botanical, the real specimens just narrowly eclipsed by the trompe l’oeil murals by Fernand Renard...

 Read more here

Botanicals...

I am definitely having a small (er, make that GIANT) love affair with illustration this week. I keep coming across such delicate, intricate examples. Like Herbiers by artist Joanna Concejo...

I found this gorgeous image via Pinterest, but have yet to find the artist or origin. Investigation pending...

And three (of the many) illustrations from Historia Naturalis Palmarum by F.P. Von Martius...

Via Bibliodyssey, Joanna Concejo and Pinterest

Scientific Illustration

Long before X-rays were X-rays and daguerreotypes were de rigueur, academia had drawings. Simple, line-dominated dissections of fauna and flora; art meant more for learning than decoration. I could pore over every minute detail for hours...

Death’s Head Sphinx Moth

From: ‘A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidæ’ By W.L. Distant

Drawing of a retinal neuron by Ramón y Cajal

Sequoia sempervirens
From ‘Hooker’s Icones Plantarum’ vol. 4: t. 379 (1841)

From Text Book of Mycology and Plant Pathology,  John W. Harshberger

olio-ataxia: Phytological History 1673 Nehemiah Grew

Pelagia Cyanella, William Keith Brooks, 1910

Snakes: Curiosities and Wonders of Serpent Life. Catherine C. Hopley, 1882.

‘Anatomia del corpo humano’ - Rome, 1559
Juan Valverde d'Amusco

Snake Skeleton, A. Duméril, 1834

Metacrinus Cingulatus
From the 'Report of the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger (1873-76)

Skeleton in Giovard Bidloo’s Ontleding des menschelyken lichaams
 (Gerard de Lairesse)

All images found via Scientific Illustration

Not your average soap

Sweet Petula have trumped most in terms of their packaging. I would find these soaps practically impossible to unwrap and use...

Initially via here; images via here and Sweet Petula