Flora Japonica
Authors: Masumi Yamanaka and Martyn Rix. 252pp. 280 x 242mm. 80 full colour botanical paintings. Paperback, ISBN 978 1 84246 612 4, Kew Publishing 2016.
Japanese indigenous plants have fascinated botanists and horticulturalists for the past two centuries, and their discoveries still have a strong influence on the plants of today. Botanists such as Kaempfer, Thunberg, von Siebold, and Maximowicz visited Japan between the 17th and 19th centuries, and communicated and corresponded with many Japanese botanists; identifying, naming and classifying many native plants and sending specimens around the world. Many beautiful Japanese plants (e.g. Hydrangea, Lily, Hosta, Camellia) were introduced into European countries, influencing horticulture and the breeding of new varieties. And as a result, this interest in Japanese flora led to a stimulation of activity amongst botanical painters in Japan in depicting the native flora.
Flora Japonica is a beautiful celebration of modern Japanese botanical art, featuring 80 specially commissioned botanical paintings of Japanese wild plants, contributed by 34 of the country’s best contemporary artists. Each paintings is accompanied by text about the plant, including its natural history as well as botanical description and details of the specimen origin. Biographies of all 30 artists are included.
An introductory chapter by Professor Hideaki Ohba (University of Tokyo) explores the history of Japanese botanical illustration, and in particular the work of the botanist and illustrator Tomitaro Makino (1862–1967).
The book accompanies the exhibition of the same name at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, until 5 March 2017.
Special Kew price £20 (RRP £25).
Media reviews:
The catalogue of Flora Japonica is essential for all garden libraries, not only for its excellent reproductions and entries for each plant, but for the opeing essay by Hideaki Ohba...on the development of botancial paintings in Japan.
Robin Lane Fox, The Financial Times
Masumi Yamanaka is an award winning botanical artist currently based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and co-author of Treasured Trees (Kew Publishing, 2015). Martyn Rix is a renowned horticulturalist, and author of many books including The Golden Age of Botanical Art (Andre Deutsch) and co-author of Treasured Trees (Kew Publishing, 2015), and editor of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, published by Kew.
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