In a previous blog post, we discussed John Gerard’s The herball, or, Generall historie of plants (1597), a book that features lists of plants with accompanying descriptions of their properties. For this blog, we will introduce more illustrations of plants in our Open Collections.

Botanical and ethnological appendix to Menzies’ journal of Vancouver’s voyage, April to October, 1792

Archibald Menzies was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist. He joined Captain George Vancouver’s voyage around the world in 1790 and kept a journal (source: Wikipedia). In 1923, part of Menzies’ journal that related to Vancouver Island and Puget Sound was published in Victoria, BC.

British botanist and ethnographic researcher Charles F. Newcombe made this appendix, introducing plants collected by Menzies on the north-west coast of America. It contains 5 illustrations, 3 of which were drawn by Menzies.

Alpine flora of the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Written by American botanist Stewardson Brown, this book is a guide to the rich and interesting flora of the Canadian Rockies and Selkirks. It is illustrated with plenty of water-colour drawings and photographs – here are some of our favorites.

What’s up buttercup?

These orchids have a funny name, lady’s slipper.

Here are more orchids in Canadian Rockies.Here are some berries from the rose family.

Finally, here are some anemone flowers: