Historic Brendel Plant Models: Robert Brendel (d. 1898) began making models of botanical specimens in the late 1860s in Breslau in what is now Poland. The models are made from various materials including papier-mâché, wood, plaster, gelatin, cotton, rattan, glass beads and feathers. Each model was made from a mould and painted by hand. Brendel models became known for their large size, their accuracy, and their detachable parts to enable further investigation. They became an essential part of the resources of any institution teaching botany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These are just a small selection of the models owned by the Botany Department at Otago which were procured for the university by T.J. Parker (1850-97), the first Professor of Biology.