This photograph is a print made in 1995 from the original transparency. This was used as an illustration in Roger Phillips's book, The Wild Flowers of Britain, which was published in London by Pan Books in 1977. Phillips pioneered the use of photography for field guides to plants. His own curiosity about plants inspired him to produce the book. He was frustrated with the standard flora or field guide that catalogues plants by family and assumes that the user has some specialist botanical knowledge.

As a photographer, Phillips set out ‘to make a book in which the visual is paramount’. He organised the contents in a way that was logical and accessible to those without any special knowledge of botany. In fact, he reverts to much earlier models such as the florilegia (decorative flower books) of the 17th century, and arranges the plants by their season of flowering.