The Plant Bible

They are called “Pl@ntNet”, “Flora Incognita”, or “iNaturalist”, and they allow laypeople to identify plants and insects with ease. Before apps like these existed, the only option was reaching for a book. The unchallenged bestseller was – and still is – “What’s Blooming Over There?”. Nature lovers could leaf through the impressive work and find out, without prior botanical knowledge, what the difference is between an opium and a long-headed poppy.
Marianne Golte-Bechtle created the book with more than 600 illustrations, every one drawn accurately by hand. She had completed an apprenticeship at the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt am Main and studied scientific graphic design. That is why it is not only the drawings that are fascinating, but also the book’s clever structure: first, the readers sort the petals into one of five colors, then the petals are counted. Lastly, the readers select one of four petal shapes. The result is a small selection of plants that, based on the detailed drawings, can now be compared with the original.
While the first edition of the book in 1935 was published in black-and-white, in 1973 the flowers sprang forth in color. Marianne Golte-Bechtle produced more than 1,000 illustrations of plants over her lifetime. She died on January 1st, 2023, at the age of 81. For botany lovers, her drawings survive and, even in these days of digital images, they remain superior to any photograph.

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