The more intricate watercolours take two weeks each, and the process involves drawing the illustration four times. By the time she has finished, Eagle will have illustrated 760 species—all our “higher” native land plants (which ex­cludes ferns, mosses and the like). Two volumes of her work have already been published, and the third and final volume is perhaps a year away. “I’ve been working on this for 49 years now, so it will be 50 years to completion. I can’t wait to get it finished. I want to get on with the rest of my life—there is so much I want to do.”