1. PLANT PARTS UP CLOSE IMAGES

2. Red onion skin
The outer skin layers of onions contain flavonoids, including the powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound quercetin. Quercetin is currently being investigated as a potential treatment for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, allergies and inflammation.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London
BIGPICTUREEDUCATION.COM

3. Horse apple
The distinctive horse apple (Maclura pomifera) is spherical, bumpy and turns bright yellow in autumn. In folk medicine it has been used as a cancer treatment by Native Americans and as a relief for tooth pain in Bolivia, and its tree’s bark and leaves have been used to treat bleeding in the uterus.
Credit: J N Stuart/Flickr
BIGPICTUREEDUCATION.COM

4. Cactus with long thorns
Cacti grow in a range of shapes and sizes. Most of them can be found in areas where water is scarce. Many have thickened, fleshy leaves in order to store water.
Credit: Kristin Wall/Flickr (CC BY)
BIGPICTUREEDUCATION.COM

5. Cactus spines
One defining feature of cacti are their clusters of spines. It may be tempting to think of spines as leaves because of their location on the plants, but actually they don’t contain any of the cells or tissues characteristic of leaves. It is thought that cacti have spines to protect them from predators.
Credit: Jim Mullhaupt/Flickr
BIGPICTUREEDUCATION.COM

6. Arum lily
Zantedeschia aethiopica is one of the world’s most iconic and widely known plants, with its brilliant white spathe surrounding a central pale yellow spadix bearing tiny flowers. Although commonly known as the arum lily or calla lily, it is not a lily at all, but an aroid.
Credit: Kit-Kath Halkett/Flickr

7. Orchid
Orchids (Orchidaceae) are a large family of flowering plants. There are between 22,000 and 26,000 species, and they make up between 6 and 11 per cent of all seed plants. They can be found in nearly every country in the world.
Credit: Steven Conry/Flickr (CC BY)

8. Hollyhocks
Alcea rosea, more commonly known as hollyhocks, has been used in traditional medicine to treat chest complaints, constipation, menstrual cramps and haemorrhaging. Its roots and flowers often feature in Tibetan medicine.
Credit: Multerland…/Flickr 
BIGPICTUREEDUCATION.COM

9. Sunflower
Sunflowers (genus: Helianthus) are tall plants, growing to heights of between 50 and 400 cm. When growing they tilt towards the sun during daylight, but stop once they start blooming. By the time they are mature, sunflowers generally face east.
Credit: shes_so_high/Flickr (CC BY NC)

10. Saucer plant
Aeonium are fleshy-leaved plants that grow in a rosette shape. They can grow outdoors, as long as temperatures are not too low, or indoors next to a sunny window. Their fleshy leaves are where they store moisture and they come in a wide range of colours, textures and sizes. The plant pictured – Aeonium undulatum – is commonly known as a saucer plant.
Credit: Farley Roland Endeman/Flickr (CC BY NC)
BIGPICTUREEDUCATION.COM

11. Stonecrop
Stonecrops form part of the large Sedum genus of flowering plants, which contains around 600 species of leaf succulents (fleshy-leaved plants). Stonecrop flowers usually have five petals.
Credit: Kirill Ignatyev/Flickr (CC BY NC)

12. Rose leaf
Roses are part of the Rosacae family, which also includes apple, pear and cherry trees. Significant in many cultures, they have long been symbols of love and romance, dating all the way back to Roman mythology where they were said to be scared to Venus, goddess of love and beauty. This image shows a close-up view of the rose leaf surface.
Credit: ~Anne O ~/Flickr (CC BY)

13. Banana skin
This image shows a close-up view of a banana skin or peel. Bananas are high in potassium, fibre and vitamin B6 and have many health benefits attributed to them. The sweet, yellow bananas we know today have only been around since the 1800s, when one farmer found that one of his batches of plantain (darker, savoury fruits, popular in Africa and the Caribbean) was growing yellow fruit, due to a mutation in the plant’s DNA. This new ‘mutant’ plant proved a hit, and the banana is now the most popular fruit in the world.
Credit: Michael Dane/Flickr (CC BY NC ND)

14. Reusing our images Images and illustrations
All images, unless otherwise indicated, are from Wellcome Images.
Contemporary images are free to use for educational purposes (they have a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial, No derivatives licence). Please make sure you credit them as we have done on the site; the format is ‘Creator’s name/Wellcome Images’.
Historical images have a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence: they’re free to use in any way as long as they’re credited to ‘Wellcome Library, London’.
The Flickr images that we have used in this gallery, unless otherwise stated, are available under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial, No derivatives licence.
Cartoon illustrations are © Glen McBeth. We commission Glen to produce these illustrations for ‘Big Picture’. He is happy for teachers and students to use his illustrations in a classroom setting, but for other uses, permission must be sought.
We source other images from photo libraries such as Science Photo Library, Corbis and iStock and will acknowledge in an image’s credit if this is the case. We do not hold the rights to these images, so if you would like to reproduce them, you will need to contact the photo library directly.
If you’re unsure about whether you can use or republish a piece of content, just get in touch with us at