Women in Botany: The Art and Science of Botanical Illustration

The Role of Women in Botanical illustration

Throughout history, women have played a vital yet often overlooked role in documenting the botanical world. Women in Botany celebrates a group of remarkable women whose legacies in botany and illustration changed the faces of both fields.

Working at the intersection of art and science, these trailblazing women artist-botanists not only captured the beauty of plants but also advanced scientific understanding through their careful observation and innovative techniques. From Maria Sibylla Merian’s groundbreaking studies of insects and flora to Anna Atkins’ pioneering cyanotypes, the work of these female botanists reveals how creativity and inquiry have blossomed together throughout history.

history's greatest women botanists

Maria Sibylla Merian
(1647–1717)

A German-born artist-naturalist, Maria Sibylla Merian revolutionised entomology and botanical art. Best known for her Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (1705), she documented the life cycles of insects alongside the plants that sustained them, blending scientific observation with exquisite artistry. At a time when few women engaged in scientific study, Merian financed and undertook a research expedition to Suriname, producing luminous watercolours of tropical flora and fauna. Her meticulous work challenged prevailing ideas about spontaneous generation and laid the foundations for modern entomology. Today, she is celebrated as one of the earliest women in botany, pioneering in her work in entomology and natural history.

Maria Sibylla Merians' metamorphosis

Discover the trailblazing work of artist-naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian in this beautifully illustrated volume on the life cycle of butterflies and moths.

Jane Colden
(1724–1766)

Often called America’s first female botanist, Jane Colden worked in New York’s Hudson Valley, documenting over 300 plant species using the Linnaean system of classification. Though her Flora of New York manuscript remained unpublished, her work demonstrated precision in plant description and a deep understanding of medicinal and culinary uses. Colden’s contributions were recognised by prominent botanists of her era, including Peter Collinson (1694–1768) and John Bartram (1699–1777), who valued her observations. In an era when women were largely excluded from scientific institutions, Colden carved a place as a woman in botany, combining scientific rigour with practical applications rooted in her local environment.

Elizabeth Blackwell
(1707–1758)

Elizabeth Blackwell (1699–1758) was a pioneering British botanist and illustrator whose Curious Herbal (1737–1739) represents a landmark in eighteenth-century botanical science and visual culture.

Trained as an artist in Aberdeen and evidently educated in aspects of medicine and herbal pharmacology, Blackwell combined artistic precision with scientific understanding to produce one of the most authoritative herbals of her time. She worked from living specimens cultivated at the Chelsea Physic Garden, London, having taken convenient lodgings nearby, where she drew, engraved, and hand-coloured more than 500 plates herself—an exceptional level of authorship in early modern scientific publishing, and almost unprecedented for a woman of her period.

Not to be confused with her later namesake, the pioneering physician Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910), our Elizabeth Blackwell (1699–1758) was also knowledgeable in areas of medicine and pharmacology. Although it’s recorded that she first learnt midwifery to raise funds after her husband was fined for practising medicine without a proper license, Blackwell’s medical and botanical knowledge left her in good standing when compiling her herbal.

This complex background situates her instead as a learned and resourceful figure operating at the intersection of art and science, whose intellectual and practical expertise informed one of the most important botanical works of the eighteenth century.

Anna Atkins
(1799–1871)

Anna Atkins, a British botanist and photographer, pioneered the use of photography in scientific publishing. Her landmark Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843) is considered the first book illustrated with photographic images. Using cyanotype—a process producing striking Prussian-blue prints—Atkins captured delicate seaweeds and ferns with unparalleled precision. By blending scientific accuracy with experimental technique, she gained a reputation as a key figure in botany and photography. Atkins’ work challenged traditional illustration by harnessing new technology to document nature. Today, she is celebrated not only as a trailblazer in photography but also as a woman who redefined how science and art could intersect.

Anna Atkins' cyanotypes of british and foreign ferns

Explore this remarkable collection of botanical cyanotypes by Anna Atkins, the world’s first female photographer, in a stunning celebration of early photography and the natural world.

Anna Maria Hussey
(1805–1853)

Anna Maria Hussey was a British mycologist and illustrator, recognised for her Illustrations of British Mycology (1847). Her work documented fungi with exquisite hand-coloured plates and detailed descriptions, bringing attention to organisms often neglected in botany. Hussey’s illustrations combined scientific clarity with artistic sensitivity, making her books accessible to both scientists and amateurs. She corresponded with leading naturalists of her time, including Charles Darwin, and contributed to the growing field of mycology. Her ability to popularise fungi through both image and text places her among the 19th century’s most important women in botany for her contributions to natural history, mycology, and botanical art.

Anna maria hussey's mushroom illustrations

An extraordinary record of British fungi and female scientific achievement, this volume showcases the pioneering work of Anna Maria Hussey and her visionary approach to art and mycology.

Marianne North
(1830–1890)

Marianne North, a British Victorian painter, created an extraordinary record of global flora through her oil paintings. Unlike many illustrators who worked from dried specimens, North travelled extensively—to Brazil, India, Japan, and beyond—capturing plants in their natural habitats. Her vivid, botanical paintings are housed in the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens, one of the few galleries dedicated to a single woman artist. North’s work was pioneering not only for its accuracy but also for its adventurous spirit, embodying the meeting of art, science, and exploration. She remains one of the most celebrated women in botany.