Maidenhair tree
From the family Ginkgoaceae with no other closely related plants.
Found in fossils dating back 270 million years to the Permian era. Native to China, it has various uses in traditional medicine and as a source of food. It has a very distinctively shaped leaves with two lobes (bi-loba) and characteristic yellow colouring in autumn.
Staghorn Fern
From the family Polypodiaceae
Fossil evidence of this genus has been collected from the Cenozoic era. It is native to Java, New Guinea and southeastern Australia. This fern is an epiphyte growing on other trees and has characteristic ‘nest leaves’ which lie against the host tree and become brown and papery with age. Each frond repeatedly divides into two segments along its length.
Tree Fern
From the family Dicksoniaceae. This fern is native to eastern Australia. Dating back at least to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, it is found in damp, sheltered woodland slopes and moist gullies, and occasionally at high altitudes in cloud forests.
From the family Cycadaceae, this plant closely related to the palm family. Native to southern Japan including the Ryukyu Islands. Present in the fossil record 300 million years ago in the Mesozoic era, they were prominent in the flora at this time.
Rough horsetail
From the family Equisetaceae, and found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. This aquatic plant dominated vegetation in the Paleozoic era. It has characteristic vertical jointed reed-like stalks and reproduces with spores, as it is a fern relative.
European crab apple
From the family Rosaceae
Malus sylvestris
European crab apple from the family Rosaceae
This illustration shows many different aspects of the tree
Nigella damascena
Love-in-a-Mist
From the family Ranunculaceae
Burrageara (Oncidopsis) 'Nelly Isler'
From the family Orchidaceae