Flora Danica - The Royal Library

About Flora Danica

The vast Danish botanical work Flora Danica, begun in 1761, consists of 3,240 engravings in folio of all the wild plants that grew in the kingdom of Denmark.

The plan for Flora Danica

The plan for Flora Danica described in the prospectus was ambitious. Flora Danica was to consist of both the engraved plates and a series of texts.

The Dinner Set

Tradition relates that the Flora Danica porcelain set was originally intended to be a gift from the Danish king to the Russian Tsarina Catherine II.

Popular Education

To insure that Flora Danica was distributed throughout the kingdom a "considerable number of copies" were sent to the clergy, so that each diocese received several copies.