Rare Botanical Legacy: The Contributions of Ruby and Arthur Van Deventer

Illustrations of some of California s most exotic flora Del Norte County is one of the most botanically diverse regions of California. In 1936, when Ruby Van Deventer, at the time an unschooled enthusiast, met California s lead field botanist, Professor Willis Linn Jepson, he was enthusiastic. I am glad to meet someone from Del Norte, he said as he shook Ruby s hand. We have the least knowledge of that area of anywhere in the state. Jepson, author of the authoritative botanical text The Jepson Manual, encouraged Ruby s botanical collecting and pushed her to learn taxonomy and plant anatomy. As Ruby increased her efforts, Arthur began to illustrate her plants with pen-and-ink drawings and watercolor paintings. Over the years, they compiled a vast flora of Del Norte County over four hundred specimens, which are now in the Jepson Herbarium at the University of California, Berkeley. A lavish production with more than 128 illustrations of over 120 specimens of the North Coast region, A Rare Botanical Legacy is a long-overdue testament to the Van Deventers contributions to California botany. David Rains Wallace s introductory essay brings their irrepressible personalities to life and the beautiful reproductions of the paintings inspire a closer look at nature.