Botanical Pastime, published at the beginning of the nineteenth century, was an edutainment of botany, which adopted the catechism as a means of science education. The botanical knowledge and illustrations of this edutainment were mainly borrowed from An Introduction to Botany, written by Priscilla Wakefield. It aimed to make participators learn Linnaean Botany, which was fashionable during that time. From the innovator Linnaeus and the botanizer Rousseau to Wakefield, there are two directions of science communication, namely the one from elite botanists to popularizers and the other among popularizers. Different from traditional books, this edutainment was a creative try of popular science publication. It was also a new way of public science consumption.

Botanical Pastime  /  Science popularization  /  An Introduction to Botany  /  Linnaeus  /  Rousseau