Scientific botanical illustration

Since arriving at Kew and becoming one the freelance illustrators in 1999, Lucy has added over 600 pen and ink scientific illustrations to the institution’s vast archive of botanical art. Classic botanical illustration in pen and ink, each “plate” represents a particular plant species, either known or newly described to science, and all were produced under close collaboration with botanists to show precise and particular structural features of the plant. Most of the smaller details are enlarged many times, drawn using a microscope to reveal them.

All images (c) copyright Lucy T Smith