A Splendour of Succulents & Cacti

Caroline Ball

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English

Bodleian Library
15 March 2023

History of Art & Design Styles; General & world history; Gardening; Succulents & cacti

Succulents, especially cacti, are the current focus of serious ecological studies but also the darlings of designers and style influencers. Their endearing, characterful looks have given them the status of trendy ‘plant pets’.

But succulentomania is not new. While these plants have always been part of the landscape in the dry vastnesses of the Americas, Australia and Africa, curiosities such as furry-flowered stapeliads and serpentine euphorbias were a source of fascination for early European plant collectors – and in eighteenth-century Bavaria a prosperous apothecary grew an ‘American aloe’ that astounded all who saw it.

This apothecary, Johann Wilhelm Weinmann, was the mastermind behind a groundbreaking book in which he aimed to include thousands of plants from all over the world, describing their individual characteristics and commissioning magnificent colour illustrations of each specimen. The succulents he featured are reproduced here in all their splendour. We may no longer look to them to treat gangrene, manufacture glass or disperse kidney stones, but succulents are proving of great interest to modern medicine and agriculture, and we can marvel at them afresh not only as wonders of nature but also as works of art.

By: Caroline Ball
Imprint: Bodleian Library
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 190mm, Width: 150mm,
ISBN: 9781851245970
ISBN 10: 1851245979
Pages: 144
Publication Date: 15 March 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Caroline Ball is an editor, copywriter and occasional translator. She has written on subjects from horticulture and travel to antiques and health, and has contributed to books about William Morris and a guide to historical sites. She is a keen gardener and, having been born a 'Kentish Maid', some of her earliest memories are of apple orchards in blossom.