Botanical Drawings

The John Innes Historical Collection

Modern microscopy techniques enable us to capture the shape and inner beauty of the leaf traps of carnivorous plants. These plants have intrigued people for many years. It is fascinating to discover sinister plants which eat animals, when you only expect plants to be food. Collectors and explorers documented animal eating plants over the last few centuries to spread information of newly discovered species and pose questions about how and why these plants captured insects. The John Innes Centre Historical Collections contain a special collection of rare books with botanical paintings and drawings documenting the history of Botany, plant research and genetics. These stunning antique prints were found in this archive mostly in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine.

Please click on the links below for more information about the plants and the paintings.

Return to Coen lab ‘How do plants shape themselves?’ page
Toluidine blue stained carnivorous plant leaf trap of Utricularia gibba
Return to Coen lab ‘How do the variety of leaf forms evolve?’ page
Botanical painting of Passion flowers with pink and white petals
Passiflora in the John Innes Centre collection.