What's different about Plantae 2023?

What is the Margaret Flockton Award?

Every year, illustrators from around the world submit scientifically accurate drawings that accompany the published taxonomic description of a plant, clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species. Original taxonomic illustrations are highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.

Who can enter the Margaret Flockton Award?

What can you enter?

Sue Wickison in her studio with recent paintings - you can see the one in front of her framed and hung in an exhibition at Kew in the photo below

About Sue Wickison
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Sue Wickison with two of her paintings in the "Plants of the Qur'an" Exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew

Sue Wickison is an extremely accomplished botanical artist with field experience in many areas, namely the Solomon Islands, where she collected and recorded orchids. She has also worked on endangered species, depicting their life cycles, and has most recently illustrated Kew’s The Plants of the Qur’an: History and Culture by Dr Shahina Ghazanfar, with an accompanying exhibition running until Sunday 17 September at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art.
Narrative re The Jill Smythies Award

Dr Shahina Ghazanfar and Sue Wickison in front of two paintings from 'Plants of Qur'an' related to the Allium family.

Sue Wickison in 2013 with her painting of Ravenala madagascariensis (Travellers Palm) which was added to the Shirley Sherwood Collection

​About The Jill Smythies Award
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The Wonderful World of Water Plants 

Plants of the Qu'ran (Gallery 1 and 2)

The top half of my invitation to the Private View

​All the Flowers Are for Me

Online / Virtual Exhibitions of
Botanical Art and Illustration
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ARCHIVE ​2018 - 2022:
Past Online / Virtual Botanical Art Exhibitions
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Audrey Eagle (courtesy of Royal Society of New Zealand)

LODER CUP AWARD 1985 CITATION
She devoted herself to the descriptive painting of native plants. Her ambition was to paint every known native tree and shrub in such detail that her drawings might make identification easier, and serve as a reference for those engaged professionally in forestry, parks and reserves administration, botany, and botanical research. She painted many rare species, some still unnamed and only recently discovered.

In 1975 Audrey Eagle published her first volume of Eagle's Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand, which included 228 coloured botanical illustrations. In 1982 her second volume, with 405 paintings of woody stemmed flora, endowed future generations with an accurate pictorial record of New Zealand trees and shrubs, complete with flowers, fruits and seeds capsules. These works represent twenty years of painstaking care and accurate artistry in the search for, recording and correct identification of specimens.
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Mrs Eagle was a member of the Nature Conservation Council from 1977. She took a keen and active interest in its work, particularly in the conservation of indigenous flora. She has given expert assistance to forest rangers and led many botanical, conservation and youth groups on field trips, freely sharing her expertise. Her fine native garden in Ngaruawahia was a show case for native plants suitable for the home garden. Here she also raised and donated rooted cuttings and seedlings of rare species.
Loder Cup: List of all winners since 1929

Timeline
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​Audrey's interest in nature commenced as a child and she recalls her childhood in Wroxton (Oxfordshire), "...every spare moment was spent exploring the countryside on bicycle and on foot. Hours were spent in woods, on hillsides and by streams, observing plants, birds and other details of the countryside. It was during this time that she began to paint plants, though she had been keen on drawing and painting from the age of about five"
Anonymous 1986: Profile - Mrs Audrey Eagle. Nature Conservation Council Newsletter No.61: 4.

Hippeastrum sp. nov. by Klei Sousa (Brazil)

An outstanding result for a long-time entrant in the MFA. Delicately rendered in ink on board with Klei’s trade-mark restraint, the perfect line and stipple had the judges straining to find a flaw (which they didn’t). The crucial white halos around foreground features help delineate form, avoiding confusion when layering. With every essential aspect comprehensively rendered in fine stipple, and with zero superfluous information, Klei brings together scientific accuracy and an experienced artistic sensibility in this beautiful plate. 

The Margaret Flockton Award
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