A Curious Herbal (1737-1739) was illustrated partly from specimens taken from the Chelsea Physic Garden. In 1781, the collection of specimens was donated by the Royal Society to the British Museum in Bloomsbury, then moved in 1881 to the Department of Botany of the British Museum in Kensington, now the Natural History Museum.

Sir Joseph Banks worked with the head gardener and curator John Fairbairn during the 1780-1814 period. Fairbairn specialized in growing and cultivating plants