Image of plant with roots in light green, dark green, black and brown on cream background. From a series of hand-coloured etchings of 10 plants selected from Leonhart Fuchs 'New Herbal', history of plants, published in 1542. It is the earliest work on plants which can properly be called scientific and it strongly influenced the course of medicine and botany in the years that followed. The original volumes mention only that the colouring of the pages was undertaken by unidentified women and children. For this series of etchings, many hands were involved to etch the plates and colour the prints, but only those undertaking the colouring were paid and credited. At the time of Fuchs' publication, all of the ten plants depicted were believed to be dangerous, with the potential to induce miscarriage. They were all intended to be planted in the earliest Physic Garden on record in Scotland, planned by Mark Jameson, Rector's Deputy at Glasgow University in 1555.
