Chinese Wild Plants in Botanical Illustration presents 300 beautiful, hand-drawn illustrations of China’s native plants, blending scientific precision with artistic tradition.

Chinese Wild Plants in Botanical Illustration is one of two companion titles, each presenting 300 beautiful, hand-drawn illustrations of China’s native plants. This first title looks at plants in ecosystems and the landscape; their history and the importance of their survival. From common wildflowers and wild grasses to rarer species found on mountains and in forests, these botanical artworks reveal the extraordinary in what we commonly take to be the ordinary. With her uncanny ability to bring real life to the page, illustrator Wu Xiuzhen exposes the exceptional beauty that is inherent in the natural world all around us.

Blending scientific precision with artistic tradition, Wu Xiuzhen combines natural observation with her strong artistic and cultural knowledge of China’s native plant life. With poetic expression, harmony, rhythm and symbolic meaning, flowers like plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum appear as artistic marvels, scientific record and enduring cultural expression.