Plant Libraries

2023 Awards for Excellence in Botanical and Horticultural Literature

Award of Excellence for Literature for Young Adults: Humongous Fungus by Lynne Boddy; Wenjia Tang, illustrator. DK Children, 2021.

Excellence in Botanical and Horticultural Literature

The 2023 Awards for Excellence in Botanical and Horticultural Literature have been announced by the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, Inc. ¹

The CBHL 2023 Annual Literature Award for a work that makes a significant contribution to the literature of botany or horticulture goes to:

Orchid Muse: a history of obsession in fifteen flowers by Erica M. Hannickel. W. W. Norton & Company, 2022.

Award of Excellence for Botanical Art and Illustration

Trees of the West: an artist’s guide by Molly Hashimoto. Skipstone, 2022.

A complete list of 2023 awards.²

Visit a horticultural or a botanical library and enter the world of plant documentation.

Here is a directory of Plant Libraries with links:

Plant Libraries - CBHL

Below is a brief tour of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library—the United States' largest botanical research library, and the first library whose collection focused exclusively on botany. ³

1. The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, Inc. (CBHL) is an international organization of individuals, organizations and institutions concerned with the development, maintenance and use of libraries of botanical and horticultural literature.

2. The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Newsletter, No. 169 (June 2023) (cbhl.net) 2023 Awards.

3. The library is named after LuEsther Mertz, librarian and benefactor, who was a founder of Publishers Clearing House.