Physicians' Flowers

19 July 2021 - 8 April 2022

Throughout history humans have used plants to cure illnesses. 350 years ago two Edinburgh doctors, Robert Sibbald and Andrew Balfour, started a garden to grow medicinal plants and this small plot has grown into Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden. 11 years later in 1681, Sibbald and Balfour went on to found the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

We celebrated the two institutions' shared history with this exhibition that explored how pictures have been used over the centuries to accurately identify the plants that many of our vital medicines come from.