Author:  Joachim Jungius (1587-1657)
Title/Imprint: Opuscula Botanica-physica
Georgii Ottonis: Coburg , 1747

This posthumous work describes Jungius's work on plant identification and classification that was quite modern in its outlook.

Author:  Stephen Hales (1677-1761)
Title/Imprint: Vegetable Staticks: or, An Account of Some Statistical Experiments on the Sap in Vegetables
[7], vii, [2], 376 p., [19] leaves of plates : ill. ; 20 cm. (8vo); W. and J. Innys: London , 1727

Hales was an innovator in the study of plant physiology. This work describes his scientific studies that determined that plants emit water vapor through their leaves and that sap flows upward in plants.

Author:  Theophrastus (c.380-287 B.C.)
Title/Imprint: De Historia Plantarum (Inquiry Into Plants)
[312] p. ; 32 cm. (fol.); Bartholomaeum Confalonerium de Salodio: Treviso , 20 Feb. 1483

This is the earliest work on systematic botany. It was translated into Latin by Theodoros Gazes and edited by Giorgio Merula.

Author:  John Ray (1627-1705)
Title/Imprint: Historia Plantarum
3 vols.; Mariæ Clark: London , 1686-1704

In this work Ray describes some 18,000 plants and set up the species as the basic unit of taxonomy.

Author:  Carl von Linné (1707-1778)
Title/Imprint: Systema Naturae, sive Regna Tria Naturae Systematice Proposita per Classes, Ordines, Genera, & Species
Stockholm , 1907

This is a facsimile of the first edition of 1735, which is very rare. In this work, Linné proposed the classification system that is still in use today.

Author:  Matthias Jacob Schleiden (1804-1881)
Title/Imprint: Grundzüge der Wissenschaftlichen Botanik
2 vols.; Wilhelm Engelmann: Leipzig , 1842-43

Schleiden, along with Theodor Schwann, was the founder of modern cell theory. This work is the culmination of his work on the understanding of plant structure.

Author:  Hugo von Mohl (1805-1872)
Title/Imprint: Vermischte Schriften Botanischen Inhalts
Ludwig Friedrich Fues: Tübingen , 1845

This work describes Mohl's definitive description of the substance that makes up the main part of a cell, which Mohr called protoplasm.

Author:  Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
Title/Imprint: Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden
Verlage des Vereines: Brünn , 1866

Mendel published his discovery of the laws of heredity in this article, which appeared in an obscure journal and remained undiscovered or unappreciated until botanists rediscovered it in 1900.

Author:  Hugo de Vries (1848-1935)
Title/Imprint: Die Mutationstheorie
2 vols.; Veit & comp.: Leipzig , 1901-03

This classic work describes de Vries' research in mutations and how it led him to the rediscovery of Mendel's laws of heredity.

Author:  Joseph Dalton, Sir Hooker (1817-1911)
Title/Imprint: On the Flora of Australia : its Origin, Affinities, and Distribution
Lovell Reeve: London , 1859

This book demonstrated Hooker's abilities in the understanding of plant geography and also marked a turning point in the application of the evolutionary theory to botany.

Author:  Rudolph Jakob Camerarius (1665-1721)
Title/Imprint: De Sexu Plantarum Epistola
Appendix I, pp.225-268; Johannis Davidus Zunneri: Frankfurt , 1700

This is the first experimental proof of sexual activity and pollination in plants. It appears here as appendix to M. B. Valentini's Polychresta Exotica (it was first printed in Tubingen in 1694).

Author:  Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter (1733-1806)
Title/Imprint: Vorläufige Nachtricht von Einigen das Geschlecht der Pflanzen Betreffenden Versuchen und Beobachtungen
4 vols. (bound in 2); Gleditschischen Handlung: Leipzig , 1761-66

Kolreuter closely studied the pollinization of plants and described here the process of plant hybridization. This was a direct scientific application of Camerarius's earlier work.

Author:  Jan Ingenhousz (1730-1799)
Title/Imprint: Experiments upon Vegetables: Discovering their Great Power of Purifying the Common Air in the Sun-shine, and of Injuring it in the Shade and at Night.
P. Elmsly and H. Payne: London , 1779

In this remarkable work, Ingenhousz announced his discovery of photosynthesis and that only the green parts of plant perform photosynthesis.

Author:  Nehemiah Grew (1641-1712)
Title/Imprint: The Anatomy of Vegetables Begun
S. Hickman: London , 1672

Grew is considered by many to be one of the founders of the study of plant anatomy. This book is famous for his belief that plants reproduce sexually, with the stamen and its pollen being the male reproductive organ and the pistil being the female organ.

Author:  Wilhelm Friedrich Benedict Hofmeister (1824-1877)
Title/Imprint: On the Germination, Development, and Fructification of the Higher Cryptogamia
for the Ray Society, by Robert Hardwicke: London , 1862

This is the English translation of Hofmeister's 1851 work on ferns, mosses, and algae (cryptogams) and revealed how the process of fertilization was due to the alternation of sexual and asexual generation. He also demonstrated how the conifers (gymnosperms) fell between the cryptogams and flowering plants.

Author:  Andrea Cesalpino (1524 or 5-1603)
Title/Imprint: De Plantis
Georgium Marescottum: Florence , 1583

This is generally considered to be the first textbook of botany. Cesalpino attempted a new classification system and used it to describe some 1,500 different plants.