Slender penstemon; Penstemon gracilis. Illustration by William Jackson Hooker; engraved by Swan. Handcolored copperplate engraving from William Curtis's 鈥楾he Botanical Magazine;' Samuel Curtis; 1829. Hooker (1785-1865) was an English botanist; writer and artist. He was Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University; and editor of Curtis' 鈥楤otanical Magazine' from 1827 to 1865. In 1841; he was appointed director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew; and was succeeded by his son Joseph Dalton. Hooker documented the fern and orchid crazes that shook England in the mid-19th century in books such as 鈥楽pecies Filicum' (1846) and 鈥楢 Century of Orchidaceous Plants' (1849). A gifted botanical artist himself; he wrote and illustrated 鈥楩lora Exotica' (1823) and several volumes of the 鈥楤otanical Magazine' after 1827.