In the second half of the nineteenth century, plants gained great popularity as providers of ideas for artistic form. Collections of designs whose didactic imagery has so far been little researched circulated at art schools and in the applied arts. The book not only makes a contribution to the theory and history of images of plants, but also shows the great topicality of the vegetal in the art of today. It examines notions of cultural renewal, which are always connected with the rhythm of the sprouting, growing, and blooming of plants as well as the political exploitation of flora in the categories of the homegrown and the national. The image of plants thus unfolds at the intersection of botany and aesthetics.
