NEXT time you admire some exotic species in your garden while sipping a cup of Indian tea or lounge on a tropical beach safe from the scourge of malaria thanks to quinine, send a quiet vote of thanks to the botanist explorers who made all this possible.

Flower Hunters is a full-blooded tribute to men and women of science, courage and dedication who risked life and limb in dangerous climes and dangerous times to bring the beautiful, the unusual and the useful of the botanic world back to Europe.

Our very own Captain Cook ranks high among these botanic adventurers, but there were many others of equal stature, including artist Marianne North who visited nearly every continent to compile a scientific and beautiful record of what she found. David Bellamy may have been TV's "botanic man" - these are true heroes.