Unknown artist, Herbarius Patauie impressus, Passau, Johann Petri, 1485, Rare Books Collection, State Library Victoria

Plants have been used as medicine for thousands of years. Beginning with the ancient Greeks, various cultures have recorded their knowledge of useful plants in books known as 'herbals'. This hand-painted page from an early printed herbal produced in Germany shows the importance of accuracy in botanical art: the reader identifies the plant at a glance, and then learns about its various uses from the text beneath.

Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Les Liliacées (The Lily Family), Paris, the author, 1802–15, Rare Books Collection, State Library Victoria

Pierre-Joseph Redouté was born in Flanders and moved to Paris in 1782 to make his name as a flower painter. Just prior to the French Revolution, he was offered a court appointment to Queen Marie Antoinette. Under the reign of Napoleon, he was commissioned to make pictorial records of Empress Joséphine's newly established garden of rare plants at Malmaison. Redouté is best known for his masterpiece on the lily family, published in only 200 copies under Josephine's patronage.

Otto Brunfels, Herbarum vivae eicones (Illustrated Herbal), Strasbourg, J Schoft, 1532, Rare Books Collection, State Library Victoria

Otto Brunfels (1488–1534) originally entered a Carthusian monastery, but poor health and the religious upheaval of Protestantism led him to abandon his monastic vocation and pursue a career of teaching and medicine. His Herbarum is a catalogue of plants from the Strasbourg region, in which he had settled. It is particularly notable for the superbly accurate woodcut illustrations by Hans Weiditz, which heralded a new naturalism born of direct observation.

John Gerard, The herball, or Generall historie of plantes, London, John Norton, 1597, Rare Books Collection, State Library Victoria

Physician John Gerard owned one of the most important botanical gardens in England, in an age when the study of plants was inseparable from the practice of medicine. The herball is a catalogue of the 'vertues', or medicinal properties of plants. It is famous for containing the first scientific description of the potato, a new import from the Americas. This book is celebrated for the beauty of its illustrations, the Elizabethan vigour of its prose, and its entertaining mixture of science and folklore.

Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Limonium II (Spinach beet), c 1560, Rare Books Collection, State Library Victoria

This woodblock, cut from pear wood, was made to illustrate the 1562 Czech edition of Pietro Andrea Mattioli's commentary on Dioscorides, the 1st-century Greek physician. Mattioli identified the 500 or so plants originally described by Dioscorides, and incorporated new observations. It quickly became the standard book on medical botany for European physicians. The surviving Mattioli woodblocks from this work represent the pinnacle of botanical woodcut illustration in the 16th century.

Fanny de Mole, Wild flowers of South Australia, Adelaide, the author, 1861, Rare Books Collection, State Library Victoria

Plagued by ill health during her London childhood, Fanny de Mole migrated to South Australia in 1857. She produced her only book at age 26, depicting 'the flowers with which we daily meet in our own grounds and neighbourhood'. Produced in an edition of around 100 copies, it was the first to illustrate the flora of the colony of South Australia. Fanny died from tuberculosis in 1866, aged 31.

Harriet Scott and Helena Scott, Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations … with descriptions by A[lexander] W[alker] Scott, London; Sydney, John van Voorst, 1864–98, Rare Books Collection, State Library Victoria

Harriet and Helena Scott were among Australia's first professional female artists, blending aesthetic sensitivity with scientific accuracy. They were educated by their father, Alexander, himself an entomologist and artist, and developed a love for the natural world alongside their considerable artistic talents. The publication of this volume saw the sisters elected as honorary members of the Royal Entomological Society. The work was completed in 1851, when Harriet was aged 21 and Helena 19.