The Secret Language of Plants

Art, Nature & Symbolism

£25.00
£25.00

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An elegant reference guide to the meaning of plants in art and life

From early Egyptian reverence for the acacia and the lotus, to the Victorian language of flowers and the works of Vincent Van Gogh and Georgia O’Keeffe, we have long sought meaning in nature. Significance has often been ascribed to particular plants, referencing their uses as food or medicine, their associations with saints and heroes, or more abstract or aesthetic qualities like fortitude, beauty and strength.

Weaving together botany, mythology, folklore, religious texts, and centuries of art and literature, this richly illustrated, elegant reference guide engages the cultural significance and underlying meanings of over fifty plants. Each entry is accompanied by a work of art or botanical illustration, bringing together the world of art and plants in an elegant and seamless fashion and deepening our understanding of how plants have been used by artists in the past and what they mean to us today.

This is the ideal reference volume for the artistically inspired botanist as well as a pleasure to read and leaf through.
Extent: 240 pp
Format: Quarterbound (no jacket)
Illustrations: 400
Publication date: 2025-08-28
Size: 22.2 x 16.8 cm
ISBN: 9780500028179

Press Reviews

Encyclopaedic ... packed with examples of horticulture’s insistent presence in art, the world of flowers can prompt a cornucopia of reactions and emotions
Waldemar Januszczak, Sunday Times




About the Author

Dr Hope Werness is an art historian specializing in non-Western and modern European art. She has taught for over twenty years at California State University, Stanislaus. She is the author of, among other books, The Continuum Encyclopedia of Native Art (2000) and The Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in World Art (2006).

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