This book is an incredible effort - a compendium of botanical evolutionary history and botanical art co-authored by a biologist and curator from the Smithsonian Museum (Kress) and a well-known British author and collector of botanical art (Sherwood). I found this book absolutely fascinating. I am not a professional botanist and know very little about the science side of this book. While I could not benefit from all of the scientific specifics, I was certainly able to understand enough, and to appreciate the beauty of the artwork that adorns almost half of the pages in this large volume (300+ pages). The full color plates of the graphite, pen & ink, watercolor, acrylic, and oil renderings of 136 botanical specimens fill entire pages, enticing the reader to spend long hours poring over the pages. Each piece of artwork has an associated discussion of the evolutionary history of the botanical specimen, and a brief biography of the artist. Details of each piece of art are also provided (title, size, media, ground, signature). I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in botany and botanical art.
