About the Author...
Linda Eggins
The author learnt botany from her plantsman-botanist husband while building their garden together, sharing it with visitors and giving talks.  When her husband died, she continued their joint ventures, and started seriously researching the National Collection of Aucuba japonica that they had established in their garden.  She soon realised that the cultivar names were confused in the Collection and in the trade.

The quest to clarify the plant nomenclature led her in surprising directions and to unexpected encounters.  The story behind Aucuba japonica that emerged was fascinating, and has prompted her to tell it in: 

A Virgin for Eighty years 
Aucuba, an overlooked treasure