At the height of its international renown, the company published its splendid Album Vilmorin. Les Plantes potagè res (The Vegetable Garden, 1850–1895) featuring 46 magnificent color plates. The Vilmorins employed some 15 painters to create this work of agro-botanic iconography; most had trained as artist-naturalists at the Jardin des Plantes, the former Royal Gardens, including Elisa Champin, who painted a large number of the finest plates. These illustrations-reproduced here with exquisite care and accuracy-transcend mere artistic interest, beautiful as they are; they are also a valuable resource for anyone researching cultivarietal evolution, and old varieties of fruits and vegetables.