Digital Florilegium
 | The word florilegium (plural florilegia) is formed from the Latin flos
(flower) and legere (to gather): literally a gathering of flowers. While
it has multiple meanings, in the botanical world it refers to a
collection of botanically accurate paintings of plants, done by artists
and illustrators from live plant samples. Many major botanical gardens
have florilegia, including Royal Botanic Garden Kew, Brooklyn Botanic
Garden, San Francisco Botanical Garden and the US National Arboretum. Quarryhill's Florilegium was formed in 2006 and is led by artist and instructor Catherine Watters. Once per year this group of more than a dozen artists come together at Quarryhill for two days, select plant and flower samples from the garden, and create incredibly detailed, lifelike, scientifically accurate and beautiful botanical illustrations. High-quality giclée prints of these images are available in Quarryhill's Visitor Center gift shop. |