The Banksias facts for kids
The Banksias is a special set of three books filled with beautiful paintings of every type of Banksia plant. These books were created by a talented artist named Celia Rosser. It was the first time one artist had painted every single plant in such a large group of plants! People have called it "one of the best plant books of this century."
What Are The Banksias Books?
The paintings in The Banksias are made with watercolours on a special kind of paper called Arches rag paper. The three books have pictures printed using a method called offset printing, which makes many copies. They are bound in green leather. A scientist named Alex George wrote the text that goes with the pictures.
How the Books Were Made
Celia Rosser started working on this amazing project in 1974.
- Volume I: The first book came out in 1981. It had 24 paintings. There were 730 copies of the book and 100 special collections of the pictures.
- Volume II: The second book was published in 1988. It also had 24 paintings. Like the first, 730 books and 100 picture collections were made.
- Volume III: The last book was finished in 2000. This one had 28 paintings. For this volume, 530 books and 300 picture collections were released.
After the third book was published, a new type of Banksia plant, called B. rosserae, was discovered. Celia Rosser painted it too, and prints were made. Later, in 2007, a whole group of plants called Dryandra were moved into the Banksia family. This means there are now many more Banksia species that Celia Rosser has not yet painted.
Special Recognition
Each book of The Banksias was given to the Queen by the Australian Government. This was a gift from all the people of Australia.
Because of her wonderful work on The Banksias, Celia Rosser received important awards:
- In 1995, she was given a Medal of the Order of Australia. This was for her great contribution to botanical art.
- In 1997, she won the Jill Smythies Award for botanical art.
