Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820)--the unofficial first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew--was a peerless scientific adventurer and pioneer. Not only did he reveal the floral wonders of the South Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia to European eyes, but he set Kew Gardens on its path to becoming the world's foremost botanic garden, bringing in a wealth of rare and useful plants with far-reaching impact. He helped to raise botanical science to...