American Botanical Council Acquires Full Rights to Steven Foster Photo Library

Business Upturn

a day ago

Austin, Texas, June 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) announces that it has obtained ownership rights to the entire collection of medicinal and aromatic plant photographs taken by the late botanist, author, and preeminent photographer Steven Foster (1957–2022).
Foster was well-known and widely respected as the author or co-author of 21 books on herbs and medicinal plants. He also wrote more than 800 articles and reviews on herbal medicine, ethnobotany, sustainable sourcing, conservation, and related subjects, including more than 100 articles and reviews in ABC's peer-reviewed journal HerbalGram.
His extensive photographic library includes more than 150,000 images of more than 1,700 accurately identified medicinal and aromatic plant species. This includes Foster's photos of many native American medicinal plants, as well as other plants he encountered during his travels in countries around the world, including Argentina, Armenia, Belize, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, England, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Peru, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
Foster was a member of ABC's Board of Trustees for more than 20 years and president for 10 years. He provided frequent and instrumental support for HerbalGram and served as a contributing editor, peer reviewer, and author of dozens of feature-length articles. He also contributed hundreds of medicinal plant photos from his extensive library, including at least 60 photos that appeared on the magazine's cover. His photography filled nearly every issue of HerbalGram since issue 24 in 1991.
After Foster's untimely death in January 2022, ABC continued to have access to and permission to use his photos in a variety of ABC publications and communications through a special arrangement with his estate. ABC continued to feature his photos on ABC's website, in publications of the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP), and in HerbalGram , ABC's monthly newsletter HerbalEGram, ABC's weekly newsletter Herbal News & Events, and other ABC publications.
Now, ABC has finalized the purchase of Foster's entire digital photo library, including full rights to all of the images. Credits to Foster's photographs will now read: 'Photo by Steven Foster ©2025 ABC.'
'For more than 40 years, Steven was a close personal friend and colleague and a primary contributor to ABC's nonprofit research and educational mission, publications, and programs,' said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal. 'Steven's intelligence, botanical knowledge, insightful and deeply informed writing, and his compelling photography were an integral part of the development and evolution of HerbalGram and ABC.
'It has been ABC's goal not only to provide authoritative, reliable, science-based information on herbs and medicinal plants, but also to show the beauty of these plants, which we have done for decades thanks in large part to Steven's incredibly beautiful photos,' Blumenthal added. 'Now, ABC has the opportunity to continue its nonprofit educational mission with Steven's photos and to help expand the herb community and general public's awareness of and appreciation for Steven's remarkable photographic legacy.
ABC Art Director Matt Magruder said: 'Securing the ownership of Steven Foster's photography library is an exciting new chapter for HerbalGram and all of ABC's various programs and publications. Steven's photography has been a foundational — and visually stunning — part of the organization from early on. As a fellow photographer, I am grateful to be able to honor Steven and to continue to share his quintessential photographic legacy through ABC's stewardship moving forward.'
Michael J. Balick, PhD, member of ABC's Board of Trustees and vice president for botanical science, director and senior philecology curator of the Institute of Economic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden, said: 'I was delighted to learn that ABC has acquired the Steven Foster Photo Library. Steven's 'plant's eye view' was nothing short of extraordinary, and this is reflected in all of the artistic and scientific work that he did over so many decades. He was enthusiastic and generous about sharing his talents as a photographer and providing his guidance to anyone who asked for his advice, regardless of their level of botanical sophistication. When I invited him to illustrate the third edition of the Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants [Springer, 2017], he provided his best work, and the photos that grace the pages of this reference book are not only useful for identification in cases of suspected poisoning, but also works of beautifully composed botanical art. We all miss Steven, who left us prematurely, and I am grateful to ABC and its donors for ensuring that this part of his legacy will endure, educating and captivating us all for many more decades.'
Blumenthal noted that, at a time when people are beginning to use artificial intelligence as a source for botanical images, one primary benefit of Foster's photographs is the reliable and accurate identification of the depicted plant species. As an expert botanist, Foster properly identified the botanicals in his photos. Aside from the beauty of the photos, this benefit is a key feature of ABC's Steven Foster Photo Library.
ABC featured a memorial tribute to Steven Foster in HerbalGram issue 133 and a pictorial of some of his medicinal plant photography in issue 134. A new pictorial of Foster's brilliant medicinal plant photos was just published in the current issue of HerbalGram , issue 143. In addition, ABC has named its newest award for botanical excellence after Foster, the ABC Steven Foster Excellence in Botanical Conservation and Sustainability Award, which is announced each spring at the annual ABC Celebration at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim.
Attachments Echinacea Purpurea
Passiflora Incarnata
Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same.