This stunning book of photographs by Robyn Stacey, one of Australia's greatest photographers, is the first of its kind. Together with essayist, Ashley Hay, they throw open the closed doors of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney herbarium, and reveal the secret history of Australia's flora. Herbarium tells fascinating stories about the nature of collecting, those who collected, what they collected and when, and the scientific background to each of the specimens. A glossary of botanical descriptions provides a unique link between the specimens and their collectors, and exquisite photographs of the botanical specimens - some now extinct - comprise a collection of rare beauty.

'Based around the National Herbarium of New South Wales, this is a fascinating and pictorially stunning history of its creation and present day status. … With an informative, easy-to-read and endlessly fascinating essay on the subject by Ashley Hay, as well as the stunning photographic portraits, this is a book for all spectrums of reader - gardener, historian, adventure-lovers, botanist and museum-lovers.'

Source: The Book Place

'A new book of pictures by Robyn Stacey, one of Australia's finest photographers, published by Cambridge University Press, is a first of its kind. … A list of botanical notes provides a unique link between the specimens and their collectors.'

Source: Current Biology