Botanical drawings

My interest in botanical drawing is really where my thoughts about the story I was going to write began.  I have always loved the look of those drawings. When I started the project I knew little more than that.  The purpose of such drawings, I came to find out,was the identification of plants as they might be used by an apothecary or physician.  The lore of herbs was passed down with the pictures of the plants and their curative characteristics. Though it was often women who made these drawings, if they were not of noble birth or somehow connected to a male of some importance, the artist was either ignored or even ridiculed as the work was claimed to be too good to have been done by the hand of a woman. At best they were only able to sign "Anonymous". Until the time of Linnaeus and his identification premise came forth in the mid 18th century, there was no set rule for identification. Without cameras, botanical drawing was the only way to sort through the new discoveries rushing into England and the continent from explorations around the world.  It was the book, Women of Flowers  by Jack Kramer that opened my eyes to the history of botanical drawing and the hard trail these often unappreciated artists endured to practice their skills. It was the place my journey into writing would begin.