Sir Joseph Paxton was a Victorian gardener, engineer and architect. He is perhaps best known for his work in cultivating tropical plants for the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth and his designs for the Crystal Palace, built for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

At Chatsworth, Paxton devised new hothouses that were able to replicate humid climates much better than earlier glasshouses. This enabled him to cultivate plants such as Queen Victoria’s waterlily (Victoria amazonica) and bananas, from which he developed the Cavendish banana, the most popular banana cultivar in the world.
Paxton also published several books on botany and horticulture. This dictionary serves as a guide to British plants.