The Florilegium

The complete catalog

The Gallery

Every plate in the house, drawn from life by the great botanical artists and coloured by hand — the whole garden, whenever you wish to browse it plainly.

On walls around the world

Not a poster — the centerpiece of a room

Printed large on archival paper, gallery canvas, or framed as an heirloom. Here, Pierre-Joseph Redouté’s the cabbage rose hung in four very different homes.

The Cabbage Rose framed on the wall
The Cabbage Rose framed on the wall
The Cabbage Rose framed on the wall
The Cabbage Rose framed on the wall

The curated sets

The Twelve Months of Flowers

All twelve of Furber’s monthly bouquets — your month as the birth-flower gift, or the whole year on the wall.

12 plates · $1,132.00

The Temple of Flora

Thornton’s theatrical flowers, against their Romantic skies — the four great plates.

4 plates · $377.00

THE ROSE GARDEN

The Rose

The collection →
The Cabbage Rose — Rosa Centifolia, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The Cabbage Rose

The most beloved rose plate ever engraved.

Rosa centifolia
The French Rose — Rosa Gallica Aurelianensis, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The French Rose

Joséphine’s roses, drawn from life at Malmaison.

Rosa gallica aurelianensis
The Moss Rose — Rosa Muscosa Alba, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The Moss Rose

A white rose furred with green, in perfect stipple.

Rosa muscosa alba
The White Moss Rose — Rosier mousseux à fleurs blanches, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The White Moss Rose

The moss rose in white — the sepals furred like green velvet.

Rosa centifolia muscosa alba
The Burgundy Rose — Rosa Centifolia Burgundiaca, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The Burgundy Rose

A pompon barely an inch across, with more petals than a rose four times the size.

Rosa centifolia burgundiaca
The Cumberland Rose — Rosier de Cumberland, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The Cumberland Rose

A crimson centifolia, drawn at the height of Redouté’s stipple.

Rosa centifolia anglica rubra
The Hedge Rose — Rosier des Hayes à fleurs semi-doubles, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The Hedge Rose

A wild rose of the hedgerows, given the treatment reserved for empresses.

Rosa sepium
The Double Moss Rose — Rosier mousseux à fleurs doubles, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The Double Moss Rose

The moss rose in full — the bloom crowded, the bud furred green.

Rosa centifolia muscosa
Evrat’s Rose — Rosier d’Evrat, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

Evrat’s Rose

A named garden rose of the 1810s — a plate that preserves a variety otherwise lost.

Rosa evratina
The Frankfurt Rose — Rosier de Francfort, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The Frankfurt Rose

The swollen, turban-shaped hip that gives the rose its name.

Rosa turbinata
The Bouquet Bengal Rose — Le Bengale à bouquets, from Les Roses, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The Bouquet Bengal Rose

A China rose that flowers in clusters — and flowers again, and again.

Rosa indica sertulata
The Kamchatka Rose — Rosa Kamtschatica, from Les Roses, after Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1817–1824

1817–1824

The Kamchatka Rose

A rose from the Russian far east, at the cold end of the genus.

Rosa kamtschatica

THE HOTHOUSE

The Grand Flower

The collection →
The Dalmatian Iris — Iris Pallida, pl. 366 of vol. 7, from Les Liliacées, De Gouy, after Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1802–1816

1802–1816

The Dalmatian Iris

The falls and standards of an iris, at the scale of architecture.

Iris pallida
A Hexandrian Lily — from A Selection of Hexandrian Plants, Priscilla Susan Bury, 1831–1834

1831–1834

A Hexandrian Lily

A giant lily, at overwhelming scale.

The Albany Pitcher Plant — Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae, Ferdinand Bauer, 1801–1806

1801–1806

The Albany Pitcher Plant

A carnivorous plant found once, at the bottom of the world, and drawn perfectly the first time.

Cephalotus follicularis
Synaphea — Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae, Ferdinand Bauer, 1801–1806

1801–1806

Synaphea

A Western Australian shrub, drawn with the patience of an anatomist.

Synaphea dilatata
Franklandia — Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae, Ferdinand Bauer, 1801–1806

1801–1806

Franklandia

The lantern flower of the south-west, in a hand that never guessed.

Franklandia fucifolia
Dasypogon — Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae, Ferdinand Bauer, 1801–1806

1801–1806

Dasypogon

A pineapple-bush of the sand plains, held to the light.

Dasypogon bromeliifolius
The Bolwarra — Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae, Ferdinand Bauer, 1801–1806

1801–1806

The Bolwarra

An ancient flowering line of eastern Australia, drawn from the living plant.

Eupomatia laurina
The Blue Tinsel Lily — Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae, Ferdinand Bauer, 1801–1806

1801–1806

The Blue Tinsel Lily

A flower with a metallic sheen — and the hardest thing in the book to colour.

Calectasia cyanea
Flindersia — Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae, Ferdinand Bauer, 1801–1806

1801–1806

Flindersia

The tree named for the captain, drawn by the man in the next cabin.

Flindersia australis
A Eucalypt — Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae, Ferdinand Bauer, 1801–1806

1801–1806

A Eucalypt

The tree that defines a continent, treated as seriously as an orchid.

Eudesmia tetragona
The Gymea Lily — botanical plate, after the New South Wales collections, 19th century

19th century

The Gymea Lily

A flower spike that stands taller than a person.

Doryanthes excelsa
The Pride of Burma — Fleurs, Fruits et Feuillages Choisis de l’Île de Java, Berthe Hoola van Nooten, 1863–1864

1863–1864

The Pride of Burma

Called the most beautiful flowering tree in the world, and drawn in Java by a widow with four children.

Amherstia nobilis
The Asoka Tree — Fleurs, Fruits et Feuillages Choisis de l’Île de Java, Berthe Hoola van Nooten, 1863–1864

1863–1864

The Asoka Tree

A sacred tree of India and Java, in orange going to red.

Saraca declinata
The Croton — Fleurs, Fruits et Feuillages Choisis de l’Île de Java, Berthe Hoola van Nooten, 1863–1864

1863–1864

The Croton

A leaf that behaves like a flower — yellow, orange, red and green on one plant.

Codiaeum variegatum
A Wild Cardamom — Fleurs, Fruits et Feuillages Choisis de l’Île de Java, Berthe Hoola van Nooten, 1863–1864

1863–1864

A Wild Cardamom

The spice trade’s own plant, drawn where it grew.

Elettaria speciosa

THE ORCHID HOUSE

The Orchid

The collection →
Zygopetalum — Zygopetalum mackayi, pl. 3402, from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, after Walter Hood Fitch et al., 1835

1835

Zygopetalum

A Brazilian orchid, from the longest-running flower book in the world.

Zygopetalum mackayi
Stanhopea — The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala, after Augusta Withers and Sarah Drake, for James Bateman, 1837–1843

1837–1843

Stanhopea

An orchid that flowers downward, through the bottom of its own basket.

Stanhopea martiana
The Swan Orchid — The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala, after Augusta Withers and Sarah Drake, for James Bateman, 1837–1843

1837–1843

The Swan Orchid

The column arches like a swan’s neck — and the plant changes sex with the light.

Cycnoches egertonianum
The Goblin Orchid — The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala, after Augusta Withers and Sarah Drake, for James Bateman, 1837–1843

1837–1843

The Goblin Orchid

A flower twisted off its own axis — and it fires pollen at whatever touches it.

Mormodes maculata
The Clown Orchid — The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala, after Augusta Withers and Sarah Drake, for James Bateman, 1837–1843

1837–1843

The Clown Orchid

A figure in the middle of the flower with its arms up — everyone sees it.

Rossioglossum insleayi
The Bird-Beak Oncidium — The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala, after Augusta Withers and Sarah Drake, for James Bateman, 1837–1843

1837–1843

The Bird-Beak Oncidium

A spray of small pink flowers, and one of the very few orchids that smells of chocolate.

Oncidium ornithorhynchum
The Fragrant Encyclia — The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala, after Augusta Withers and Sarah Drake, for James Bateman, 1837–1843

1837–1843

The Fragrant Encyclia

Yellow-green and honey-scented, on a plate the size of a tabletop.

Encyclia incumbens
The Lady of the Night — Edwards’s Botanical Register, for John Lindley, Edwards’s Botanical Register, 1846

1846

The Lady of the Night

It opens white at dusk and perfumes an entire glasshouse by midnight.

Pl. 53Brassavola digbyana
The Mexican Lady’s Slipper — Edwards’s Botanical Register, for John Lindley, Edwards’s Botanical Register, 1846

1846

The Mexican Lady’s Slipper

The largest slipper orchid in the Americas, and one of the hardest to keep alive.

Pl. 58Cypripedium irapeanum
The Tulip Orchid — Edwards’s Botanical Register, for John Lindley, Edwards’s Botanical Register, 1844

1844

The Tulip Orchid

A cupped flower with a loose figure rocking inside it — the “cradle orchid.”

Pl. 63Anguloa clowesii
The Bucket Orchid — Edwards’s Botanical Register, for John Lindley, Edwards’s Botanical Register, 1836

1836

The Bucket Orchid

It fills a bucket with its own fluid and drops the bee in.

Pl. 1841Coryanthes macrantha
Acland’s Cattleya — Edwards’s Botanical Register, for John Lindley, Edwards’s Botanical Register, 1840

1840

Acland’s Cattleya

Olive-green barred with maroon, and a lip of shocking magenta.

Pl. 48Cattleya aclandiae
The Zygopetalum — Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, for Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 1835

1835

The Zygopetalum

Green and chocolate-brown petals, a lip streaked violet, and a scent of hyacinth.

Zygopetalum maculatum

THE ROMANTIC STAGE

The Temple of Flora

The collection →
The Night-Blowing Cereus — The Night-Blowing Cereus, from The Temple of Flora, Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

The Night-Blowing Cereus

A flower that blooms once, by moonlight.

Selenicereus grandiflorus
The Blue Passion Flower — The Blue Passion Flower, from The Temple of Flora, Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

The Blue Passion Flower

An intricate bloom against a brooding sky.

Passiflora caerulea
Hyacinths — Hyacinths, from The Temple of Flora, Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

Hyacinths

Hyacinths massed against a stormy sky.

Hyacinthus orientalis
The Sacred Egyptian Bean — The Sacred Egyptian Bean, from The Temple of Flora, Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

The Sacred Egyptian Bean

The lotus of the Nile, in full Romantic splendour.

Nelumbo nucifera
The Indian Reed — New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

The Indian Reed

A scarlet canna against a Himalayan sky — botany staged as weather.

Canna indica
The Garden Poppy — New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, after Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

The Garden Poppy

The flowering stem and the seed head together — beauty and its consequence.

Papaver somniferum
The Campion, Male and Female — New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, after Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

The Campion, Male and Female

Two plants on one plate — because this species keeps its sexes apart.

Lychnis
The Tobacco Plant — New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, after Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

The Tobacco Plant

Two species of the plant that paid for the eighteenth century.

Nicotiana rustica
Monkshood — New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, after Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

Monkshood

The most poisonous plant in an English garden, drawn as a decoration.

Aconitum napellus
The Bee Larkspur — New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, after Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

The Bee Larkspur

A flower with a false bee at its centre, to tell real ones where to land.

Delphinium
The Paeony, Double and Single — New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, after Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

The Paeony, Double and Single

The same flower twice — as nature made it, and as gardeners remade it.

Paeonia
Toadflax — New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, after Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

Toadflax

A wild roadside flower given a full plate in a book about empire’s hothouses.

Linaria
Cupid Inspiring the Plants with Love — New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, after Robert John Thornton, 1799–1807

1799–1807

Cupid Inspiring the Plants with Love

The allegory that opens the book — botany announced as a romance.

Roses — after the New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, Richard Earlom, after Robert John Thornton, 1805

1805

Roses

Earlom’s mezzotint after Thornton — the darkest, richest surface in the book.

THE GREAT GARDEN

The Florilegium

The collection →
The Large Sunflower — Flos Solis Maior, pl. 1 of part 5, from Hortus Eystettensis, Basilius Besler, 1613 (1713 edition)

1613 (1713 edition)

The Large Sunflower

Flos Solis Maior, from the first great garden book ever printed.

Helianthus annuus
Star of Bethlehem — Ornithogalum minus & maius, pl. 35, from Hortus Floridus, Crispijn van de Passe, 1614

1614

Star of Bethlehem

Two ornithogalums and a hoverfly, engraved at eye level with the soil.

Ornithogalum
A Weinmann Plate — from Phytanthoza Iconographia, Johann Wilhelm Weinmann, 1737–1745

1737–1745

A Weinmann Plate

Early colour-printing, luminous and strange.

The Great Sunflower — Hortus Eystettensis, Basilius Besler, 1613

1613

The Great Sunflower

From the Hortus Eystettensis — a whole prince-bishop’s garden, printed on the largest paper in Europe.

Helianthus annuus
The Marsh Marigold — Hortus Eystettensis, Basilius Besler, 1613

1613

The Marsh Marigold

The first flower of the Eichstätt spring — plain, wet-ground gold.

Caltha palustris
The Shrubby St John’s Wort — Plantarum Rariorum Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, 1797–1804

1797–1804

The Shrubby St John’s Wort

From the imperial garden at Schönbrunn, drawn under an emperor’s patronage.

Hypericum prolificum
The Cape Weed — Plantarum Rariorum Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, 1797–1804

1797–1804

The Cape Weed

A daisy from the Cape, and one of the great botanical travellers.

Arctotheca calendula
The Ox-Tongue — Plantarum Rariorum Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, 1797–1804

1797–1804

The Ox-Tongue

A rough-leaved yellow daisy, drawn with imperial resources.

Picris rhagadioloides
The African Wormwood — Plantarum Rariorum Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, 1797–1804

1797–1804

The African Wormwood

A silver-grey medicinal shrub of the southern African highlands.

Artemisia afra
The African Daisy — Plantarum Rariorum Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, 1797–1804

1797–1804

The African Daisy

A Cape daisy that closes at night and opens with the sun.

Arctotis micrantha

THE KITCHEN GARDEN

The Herbal & the Kitchen Garden

The collection →
The German Iris — Iris Germanica, from A Curious Herbal, Elizabeth Blackwell, 1737–1739

1737–1739

The German Iris

The medicinal plant that saved a family — in Blackwell’s own watercolour.

Iris germanica
The Banana — Banana Flower and Fruit, from Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Maria Sibylla Merian, 1705

1705

The Banana

A banana in flower and in fruit, with the life that lives upon it.

Musa
The Twelve Months of Fruit — from The Twelve Months of Fruit, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1732

1732

The Twelve Months of Fruit

An abundance of fruit, in the grand manner.

The Spiny Golden Star — A Curious Herbal, Elizabeth Blackwell, 1737–1739

1737–1739

The Spiny Golden Star

From the herbal a woman drew, engraved and coloured herself, to get her husband out of debtors’ prison.

t. 272Pallenis spinosa
The Dragon Arum — botanical watercolour, botanical watercolour, 19th century, 19th century

19th century

The Dragon Arum

A metre-tall purple hood that smells, deliberately, of rotting meat.

Dracunculus vulgaris
The Sea Orache — Flora Graeca, Ferdinand Bauer, for John Sibthorp, 1806–1840

1806–1840

The Sea Orache

From the most expensive flora ever produced — thirty copies, forty years, one fortune.

vol. 10, t. 962Atriplex halimus
The Bastard Cabbage — Flora Graeca, Ferdinand Bauer, for John Sibthorp, 1806–1840

1806–1840

The Bastard Cabbage

A roadside weed of the Aegean, recorded to the same standard as a rare orchid.

vol. 7, t. 612Rapistrum rugosum
The Frog Fruit — Flora Graeca, Ferdinand Bauer, for John Sibthorp, 1806–1840

1806–1840

The Frog Fruit

A creeping mat plant, drawn wide — one of the few landscape plates in the flora.

vol. 6, t. 553Phyla nodiflora
The Prickly Samphire — Flora Graeca, Ferdinand Bauer, for John Sibthorp, 1806–1840

1806–1840

The Prickly Samphire

A spined umbellifer of Mediterranean sand — architecture disguised as a weed.

vol. 3, t. 265Echinophora spinosa

THE YEAR

The Twelve Months

The collection →
January — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

January

The winter urn — and January’s carnation.

Pl. 1
February — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

February

The first sweetness — and February’s violet.

Pl. 2
March — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

March

The trumpet of the returning light — March’s daffodil.

Pl. 3
April — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

April

The day’s eye opens — April’s daisy.

Pl. 4
May — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

May

The scent of the whole month — May’s lily of the valley.

Pl. 5
June — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

June

The rose arrives — June’s own flower, and the year’s.

Pl. 6
July — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

July

The high summer border — July’s larkspur.

Pl. 7
August — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

August

The most fragile red in the garden — August’s poppy.

Pl. 8
September — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

September

The last blue before the turn — September’s aster.

Pl. 9
October — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

October

Hot orange, held late — October’s marigold.

Pl. 10
November — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

November

The flower of the late garden — November’s chrysanthemum.

Pl. 11
December — The Twelve Months of Flowers, Henry Fletcher, after Pieter Casteels III, pub. Robert Furber, 1730

1730

December

Forced indoors while the garden sleeps — December’s narcissus.

Pl. 12