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A Scottish doctor and botanist, George Watt (1851-1930) had studied the flora of India for more than a decade before he took on the task of compiling this monumental work. Assisted by numerous contributors, he set about organising vast amounts of information on India's commercial plants and produce, including scientific and vernacular names, properties, domestic and medical uses, trade statistics, and published sources. Watt hoped that the dictionary, 'though not a strictly scientific publication', would be found 'sufficiently accurate in its scientific details for all practical and commercial purposes'. First published in six volumes between 1889 and 1893, with an index volume completed in 1896, the whole work is now reissued in nine separate parts. Volume 3 (1890) contains entries from Dacrydium (a genus of coniferous trees) to Gordonia obtusa (a species of evergreen tree).

A Scottish doctor and botanist, George Watt (1851-1930) had studied the flora of India for more than a decade before he took on the task of compiling this monumental work. Assisted by numerous contributors, he set about organising vast amounts of information on India's commercial plants and produce, including scientific and vernacular names, properties, domestic and medical uses, trade statistics, and published sources. Watt hoped that the dictionary, 'though not a strictly scientific publication', would be found 'sufficiently accurate in its scientific details for all practical and commercial purposes'. First published in six volumes between 1889 and 1893, with an index volume completed in 1896, the whole work is now reissued in nine separate parts. Volume 4 (1890) contains entries from Gossypium (the cotton genus) to Linociera intermedia (a species of small tree, used for timber).

A Scottish doctor and botanist, George Watt (1851-1930) had studied the flora of India for more than a decade before he took on the task of compiling this monumental work. Assisted by numerous contributors, he set about organising vast amounts of information on India's commercial plants and produce, including scientific and vernacular names, properties, domestic and medical uses, trade statistics, and published sources. Watt hoped that the dictionary, 'though not a strictly scientific publication', would be found 'sufficiently accurate in its scientific details for all practical and commercial purposes'. First published in six volumes between 1889 and 1893, with an index volume completed in 1896, the whole work is now reissued in nine separate parts. Volume 5 (1891) contains entries from Linum (the flax genus) to oyster (the subcontinent's best oyster beds were to be found 'on the coast near Karachi, Bombay and Madras').

John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), professor of botany at Cambridge University and Anglican clergyman, is best remembered for his role as a mentor to Charles Darwin. First published in 1862, this biography by Henslow's colleague and brother-in-law, Leonard Jenyns, pays tribute to a man he describes as one of the most remarkable of his time. Through vivid accounts of times spent with Henslow both in the university and on travels around Britain, he paints a portrait of a modest and conscientious man, whose pursuits were intended solely for the benefit of others. Recounting Henslow's scientific work and religious endeavours, Jenyns also explores his pioneering contribution to botany and geology, his assistance to the farmers and the poor of his parish, and the role of his faith in his work. Compiled with help from Darwin and other colleagues, Jenyns' memoir provides a unique insight into an important figure in scientific history.

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.

Catharine Parr Traill (1802-99) was a writer, botanist and settler who emigrated from England to Canada with her husband in 1832. Both she and her sister, Susanna Moodie, became well known for their writing on settler life: Traill is also the author of The Backwoods of Canada and The Canadian Settler's Guide. This 1885 publication is the most comprehensive of her botanical works. Plants are grouped together by family and the book is divided into four sections: native flowers, flowering shrubs, forest trees and native ferns. Written to inspire the Canadian public to share her passion for the plant life of their country, the book has an engaging style where anecdotes and literary quotations appear alongside detailed descriptions and classification information. Traill's niece, Agnes Chamberlin, is the book's illustrator. A beautiful example of nineteenth-century popular botany, this book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the subject.

This 1878 account of a scientific tour of Morocco and the Atlas mountains in 1871 was compiled from the journals of Sir Joseph Hooker (1817-1911) and his travelling companion, the geologist John Ball (1818-89). Their plan had been for Hooker to publish their findings soon after the journey, but his work as Director of Kew Gardens and President of the Royal Society, and Ball's frequent absences abroad, as well as his own writing commitments, caused delays. However, they argue that their information is unlikely to be out of date when, from a comparison with earlier accounts, 'no notable change is apparent during the last two centuries'. The botanical and geological interests of both men take centre stage in an engaging narrative which provides interesting details about the government, customs and daily life in an area which even in the late nineteenth century was little visited by Europeans.

The later nineteenth century saw a dramatic increase in the popularity of domestic gardening and the cultivation of plants and flowers in the home. Largely a middle-class pursuit, it caught the attention of writers and publishers who recognised and nurtured the growing demand for advice. This detailed guide first appeared in 1877 and was written for those living in towns and cities who, without substantial gardens, cultivated plants mainly in their windows. The author, John R. Mollison, intended for it to be 'understood by all', and advises on matters ranging from suitable vases, window boxes, hanging baskets and soil, to watering methods, insect prevention and the labelling of specimens, while also discussing the health-related pros and cons of keeping plants in the home. Complete with an alphabetical list of suitable species, and illustrated with a host of wood engravings, this attractive resource will interest both gardening enthusiasts and social historians.

In the early nineteenth century, live plant cuttings were commonly transported between continents in wooden boxes exposed to the elements on the decks of ships; unsurprisingly, it was rare for them to arrive in good health. The glass cases devised by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791-1868) were a revolutionary step forward in preserving botanical specimens. In this monograph, first published in 1842, Ward explores some of the most common causes of plant deaths in cities and aboard ships, including air quality and temperature. Most importantly, he emphasises the need for light. Although photosynthesis would not be chemically understood until later that century, Ward recognised that a glass case was infinitely preferable to an opaque one. His rapidly adopted invention would have far-reaching effects, allowing for the safe transportation of tea from China to the Himalayas, rubber from the Amazon and medicinal species from the Andes to India.

A member, and later president, of the Academie des Sciences, French botanist and doctor Rene Louiche Desfontaines (1750-1833) spent the years 1783-5 on an expedition to North Africa. During his time in Tunisia and Algeria, he collected over a thousand plant specimens: more than three hundred genera were new to European naturalists at this time. Having succeeded Le Monnier in the chair of botany at the Jardin du Roi in 1786, Desfontaines helped found the Institut de France following the Revolution and published his two-volume Flora atlantica in Latin in 1798-9. A lavishly illustrated second edition appeared in four volumes in 1800. Combining its two volumes of plates into one, this reissue will give modern researchers an insight into the promulgation of pioneering plant science. Volume 3 brings together all 261 line engravings from the volumes that accompanied the botanical catalogue.

A member, and later president, of the Academie des Sciences, French botanist and doctor Rene Louiche Desfontaines (1750-1833) spent the years 1783-5 on an expedition to North Africa. During his time in Tunisia and Algeria, he collected over a thousand plant specimens: more than three hundred genera were new to European naturalists at this time. Having succeeded Le Monnier in the chair of botany at the Jardin du Roi in 1786, Desfontaines helped found the Institut de France following the Revolution and published his two-volume Flora atlantica in Latin in 1798-9. A lavishly illustrated second edition appeared in four volumes in 1800. Combining its two volumes of plates into one, this reissue will give modern researchers an insight into the promulgation of pioneering plant science. Volume 2 contains classes 14 to 24 in the Linnaean system of plant taxonomy, from Didynamia to Cryptogamia.

A member, and later president, of the Academie des Sciences, French botanist and doctor Rene Louiche Desfontaines (1750-1833) spent the years 1783-5 on an expedition to North Africa. During his time in Tunisia and Algeria, he collected over a thousand plant specimens: more than three hundred genera were new to European naturalists at this time. Having succeeded Le Monnier in the chair of botany at the Jardin du Roi in 1786, Desfontaines helped found the Institut de France following the Revolution and published his two-volume Flora atlantica in Latin in 1798-9. A lavishly illustrated second edition appeared in four volumes in 1800. Combining its two volumes of plates into one, this reissue will give modern researchers an insight into the promulgation of pioneering plant science. Volume 1 contains the first thirteen classes of plants in the Linnaean system of taxonomy, from Monandria to Polyandria.

This story of an Indian garden was published in 1915. Its author, Kathleen L. Murray, was living in the remote north-eastern region of Bihar in the home of her brother, an indigo producer, and some of her musings on life and gardening in India had already been published in the periodical The Statesman. She viewed this work not as a guide, but 'merely a rambling record of some years in a garden' which combined European plants such as roses and sweet peas with natives such as cannas and beaumontias. Along with her gardening successes and failures over three years, the book provides insights into the life of the European woman in India - with no employment, and required to be both idle and aloof from the lives of the wider population. Murray's descriptive powers and enthusiasm for her garden make this book both enjoyable and evocative of imperial India.

Mrs C. W. Earle (1836-1925) was born into the minor aristocracy as Maria Theresa Villiers. After training as an artist, she married Captain C. W. Earle, who inherited family property which enabled a comfortable lifestyle with a town house in London and a small property with a large garden in Surrey. Earle's designs for her garden were much admired by her artistic and literary circle, and she was encouraged to write down her gardening advice. In 1903 she published this work, the third in a very successful series of writings about gardening, cookery, travel and art, but the emphasis in this book is very much on the importance of diet to health, though there are plenty of other topics. The final section of the book contains the last letters home of Mrs Earle's son Sydney, a captain in the Coldstream Guards, who was killed late in 1899 during the Boer War.

Mrs C. W. Earle (1836-1925) was born into the minor aristocracy as Maria Theresa Villiers. After training as an artist, she married Captain C. W. Earle, who inherited family property which enabled a comfortable lifestyle with a town house in London and a small property with a large garden in Surrey. Earle's designs for her garden were much admired by her artistic and literary circle, and she was encouraged to write down her gardening advice. With the help of her niece, Lady Constance Lytton (who provides an appendix on Japanese flower arranging), she published this book, the first of three, in 1897, and it was a great and immediate success. The reader is addressed directly and engagingly on topics ranging from gardening and cookery books to planting schemes, healthy recipes, interior decoration, and the rearing of boys and girls, together with plenty of practical advice on all aspects of gardening.

Mrs C. W. Earle (1836-1925) was born into the minor aristocracy as Maria Theresa Villiers. After training as an artist, she married Captain C. W. Earle, who inherited family property which enabled a comfortable lifestyle with a town house in London and a small property with a large garden in Surrey. Earle's designs for her garden were much admired by her artistic and literary circle, and she was encouraged to write down her gardening advice. This work, published in 1899, followed on from the success of her Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden (1897). It contains a similar collection of writings on gardening, cookery, travel and art, in chapters which follow the horticultural year from September to August. An introductory section describes with verve and good humour the critical reception of Earle's earlier book, and her reasons for writing another.

Employed early in his career by Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist John Lindley (1799-1865) is best known for his recommendation that Kew Gardens should become a national botanical institution, and for saving the Royal Horticultural Society from financial disaster. As an author, he is best remembered for his works on taxonomy and classification. A partisan of the 'natural' system rather than the Linnaean, Lindley published this 1841 work, the fourth edition of his Outline of the First Principles of Botany, under a new title to emphasise not only that it was 'much extended, and, it is hoped, improved', but also that it was a textbook for students of 'structural, physiological, systematical, and medical' botany. He defines the different elements of a plant, and provides a checklist for identification of plant families, before discussing the various 'natural' systems of classification, including his own, and the different practical uses of plants.

Mrs C. W. Earle (1836-1925) was born into the minor aristocracy as Maria Theresa Villiers. After training as an artist, she married Captain C. W. Earle, who inherited family wealth which enabled a comfortable lifestyle with a town house in London and a small property with a large garden in Surrey. Earle's designs for her garden were much admired by her circle, and she was encouraged to write down her gardening advice. She published three volumes of Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden (also reissued in this series) between 1897 and 1903, but these works were not restricted to gardening, and contained thoughts on travel and art, and also on the importance of diet to health. Published in 1911, these reminiscences are dedicated to her grandchildren, and contain her parents' history as well as her own memories of a privileged upbringing among the literary and artistic giants of mid-Victorian England.

The American social historian and antiquarian Alice Morse Earle (1851-1911) published this work in 1901. She was a prolific writer of books and pamphlets on pre-revolutionary New England, and her writings were very popular with readers who took great interest in the social history and material culture of their country. In this work, which contains more than 200 illustrations, Earle describes the historic and modern gardens of the north-eastern seaboard, the gardening activities - for pleasure as well as for food - of early settlers, and the progress of plant-hunters and nursery-men such as John Bartram in discovering and categorising new specimens, as well as the introduction into the United States of cottage garden favourites from Europe and exotica from the Far East. Earle's Sundials and Roses of Yesterday (1902) is also reissued in this series.

The horticulturalist John Lindley (1799-1865) worked for Sir Joseph Banks, and was later instrumental in saving the Royal Horticultural Society from financial disaster. He was a prolific author of works for gardening practitioners but also for a non-specialist readership, and many of his books have been reissued in this series. The first volume of this two-volume work was published in 1834, and the second in 1837. At a time when botany was regarded as the only science suitable for study by women and girls, Lindley felt that there was a lack of books for 'those who would become acquainted with Botany as an amusement and a relaxation', and attempted to meet this need. In the second volume of 'this little work', Lindley continues to introduce new 'tribes' of plants, including exotica such as mangoes and Venus fly traps, to his lady correspondent and her children.

William Marshall (1745-1818), from farming stock, became a farmer and then estate manager and land agent after several years conducting business in the West Indies. This 1779 book (one of his earliest) describes his observations and experiments on his farm in Surrey (which he later had to give up because of his partner's bankruptcy). A description of the size, soil type and aspect of his various fields is followed by a summary of the experiments he carried out - mostly simple ones, such as comparing results if seeded fields were rolled or not. Diary records over two years for each crop are given, with areas sown, soil conditions and weather data. A chapter is devoted to weather prognostications, and another to day-to-day farm management and accounts. Marshall hoped that the systematic reporting of his findings would be of use to others, and the work provides interesting insights into the beginnings of scientifically based agriculture.

William Marshall (1745-1818), an experienced farmer and land agent, published this work in 1795, and early in 1796 produced a second edition (reissued here), 'with large additions'. The two-volume work was intended as a practical guide for the owners or managers of large estates on how to establish and maintain timber plantations, both for their financial value and also as important decorative elements in the landscaping of the surroundings of the owner's house. The work covers the practical issues of planting, propagating and transplanting, and discusses the choice of trees for different commercial purposes, and the planning and maintenance of hedgerows, as well as ornamental buildings. Volume 1 includes a review of the writings on landscape by such figures as Horace Walpole, (one of whose essays is reproduced), giving insights into the economic as well as the aesthetic aspects of landscape gardening in its golden age.

William Marshall (1745-1818), an experienced farmer and land agent, published this work in 1795, and early in 1796 produced a second edition (reissued here), 'with large additions'. The two-volume work was intended as a practical guide for the owners or managers of large estates on how to establish and maintain timber plantations, both for their financial value and also as important decorative elements in the landscaping of the surroundings of the owner's house. The work covers the practical issues of planting, propagating and transplanting, and discusses the choice of trees for different commercial purposes, and the planning and maintenance of hedgerows, as well as ornamental buildings. Volume 2 begins with an account of the Linnaean system of plant classification and its sexual basis, and supplies both an alphabetical list of trees and shrubs in their Latin Linnaean classes, and an index of plants under their English names.

Brought up among the extensive grounds of her family home at Didlington Hall in Norfolk, Alicia Amherst (1865-1941) was a keen gardener from an early age. Especially interested in socially beneficial gardening, she sat on the board of the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1900, encouraged the growing of smoke-resistant flowers in poor urban areas, and promoted the greater use of allotments and school gardens during the First World War. Long regarded as a significant work for its thorough yet accessible approach, this well-researched historical and horticultural survey first appeared in 1907 under her married name of the Honourable Mrs Evelyn Cecil. Beautifully illustrated throughout, it covers London's royal and other parks as well as less obvious green spaces such as squares, burial grounds, and Inns of Court. A map and plant lists are also included. Amherst's History of Gardening in England (1895) is also reissued in this series.

Jane Loudon (1807-58), the Mrs Beeton of the Victorian gardening world, wrote several popular books on horticulture and botany specifically for women. Her enthusiasm for plants and gardening was encouraged by her husband, the landscape designer John Claudius Loudon, whom she married in 1830. Her Instructions in Gardening for Ladies (also reissued in this series) was enormously successful, and she followed it up in 1842 with this volume on botany, in which she uses the natural system of classification. The 'grand object' of the work is 'to enable my readers to find out the name of a plant when they see it ... or, if they hear or read the name ... to make that name intelligible to them'. She takes her readers through the botanical orders, using a familiar plant as an exemplar for each, and then presents de Candolle's systematic description of plant species.

An influential professor of botany at Cambridge, John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861) revived his department and helped develop the current University Botanical Garden for study, teaching and conservation. A mentor to the young Darwin, he proved an educational innovator, initiating the study of individual sciences at Cambridge and practical examinations at the University of London. While rector of Hitcham in Suffolk, he took an interest in local politics, welfare and popular education. This led to the publication in 1860 of this catalogue, which collated the observations and work of amateur botanists. Henslow was the overarching academic and technical consultant while Edmund Skepper is credited with organising and collating the information from the contributors. Catalogued taxonomically, each plant's Latin and common name is given along with its physical description, common locations, rarity or commonality, and periods of flowering or germination. It remains a valuable guide for amateur botanists and naturalists.

First published in 1843, this book ran to eleven editions, with two published posthumously. Compiled by Cambridge botanist Charles Cardale Babington (1808-95) over the course of nine years, this was the first comprehensive catalogue of British plants for nearly a century and was conveniently pocket-sized for fieldwork. Babington was by this time the leader in the taxonomical research of higher plants. Providing both the Latin nomenclature assigned at the time and the common English or anglicised name, he divides plants according to the Linnaean natural orders and describes them in great technical detail. A useful glossary is also included to help the reader navigate the descriptions. As demonstrated in Memorials, Journal and Botanical Correspondence (also reissued in this series), Babington was a highly esteemed and influential scientist. This is the expanded 1904 ninth edition of his invaluable and enduring compendium.

Jane Loudon (1807-58), the Mrs Beeton of the Victorian gardening world, wrote several popular books on horticulture and botany, specifically for women. She is also remembered as the author of The Mummy! - an early work of science fiction - and as editor of The Ladies' Companion. Her knowledge of plants and gardening was gained from her husband, the landscape designer John Claudius Loudon, whom she married in 1830, and from attending the lectures of the botanist John Lindley. Her notes from these were published as articles in John Loudon's Gardener's Magazine. This book, first published in 1840, was an immediate success, selling 1,350 copies on the day of publication and more than 200,000 in total. Written in the approachable style typical of her works, it covers all the elements of horticulture, and helped to encourage many Victorian women to take up gardening as a hobby.

William Sawrey Gilpin (1761/2-1843), landscape painter and illustrator, later became a landscape gardener and writer. He set himself up as a drawing master in Paddington Green and also illustrated picturesque travel-writing. Between 1804 and 1806 he was the first president of the Society of Painters in Water Colours, and then the third drawing master at the Royal Military College in Marlow. After being discharged from this post, Gilpin became a successful landscape gardener and advisor to the nobility. His approach to landscape gardening was influenced by painting and Sir Uvedale Price's Essay on the Picturesque (1794). Gilpin's Hints, published in 1832, advocates that landscapes should be improved by the 'taste' of a painter's eye, and artificial buildings united with their surroundings. Like his landscape practice, this book was highly regarded by Gilpin's contemporaries for its emphasis on the picturesque, especially when landscape gardening centred upon the introduction of exotic plants.

Well known among his contemporaries for his unrivalled knowledge of aberrant plants, Daniel Oliver (1830-1916) ran the herbarium at Kew Gardens and held the chair of botany at University College London, for which he was recommended by Charles Darwin. Although Oliver never visited India, his expertise in Indian botany grew considerably after he worked with an enormous number of dried specimens rescued from the cellars of the East India Company. In this book, first published in 1869, he sets out the basics of botanical study in India for the absolute beginner. It includes instruction on the anatomy of simple plants, lessons in collection and dissection, and explanations of botany's often dense terminology. Annotated diagrams appear throughout, in both microscopic and macroscopic views. Rigorous and carefully structured, Oliver's book remains an excellent resource for novice botanists and students in the history of science.