"As unfolded by the authors of this informative and well-documented volume the story of Edingburgh's Royal Botanic Gardens becomes more than the story of an old foundation which now celebrates tercentenary. It tells of the lives of a long line of botanists, eleven professors in all, from the difficult and turbulent days of James Sutherland down to the more spacious times of William Wright Smith, all of them engaged in botanical teaching, and all of them, with varying accents, expounding the science of botany in College and University and in the field excursion. It tells also of the progress of botany during three centuries; of the exploration of the Scottish flora; of the work and careers of notable gardeners; and of the art and science of gardening itself." -- Taken from inside front jacket flap.