Timeline of British botany

• 1538: First British flora "Libellus de Herbaria" by William Turner's published.

  "A new Herball, wherin are conteined 
the names of Herbes ... with the properties degrees 
and naturall places of the same, gathered and made 
by Wylliam Turner, Physicion unto the Duke of Somersettes 
Grace" is the complete name of his great work of botany. 
The first part was published in London, printed by 
Steven Myerdman in 1551), the second was published 
in 1562 and the third in 1568, both in exile in 
Germany, by Arnold Birckman of Cologne. 
These volumes were the first clear and systematic 
investigation of the plants of England. The work had admirable wood engravings 
(basically copied from Leonhart Fuchs' 
work De historia Stirpium, 1542) 
along with the detailed observations 
obtained by Turner in his field studies. At the 
same time, Turner included 
a list of the "uses and virtues" 
of plants and in the preface 
admits that he may be accused of disclosing 
to the general public what should have 
been reserved for a professional audience. 
Thus for the first time a flora of England in 
the vernacular was available, so that most English 
plants could easily be identified.

• 1597: John Gerard's Herball, or general historie of plants was published in London
• 1636: Enlarged edition of the Herball by Thomas Johnson
• 1644: Thomas Johnson (botanist) and author of Mercurius botanicus died in Hampshire
• 1650: William How's Phytologia Britannica was published in London
• 1900s: Frederick Hamilton Davey's Flora of Cornwall was published in Penzance
• 1951: Diapensia lapponica, a new species for Britain, is found at Sgurr an Utha, Inverness-shire by C. F. Tebbutt
• 1965: The Concise British Flora by William Keble Martin was published in May.
• 1986: Red Helleborine Cephalanthera rubra is found at Hawkley Warren, Hampshire by K. Turner and Ralph Hollins