This issue of the BDJ displays the first cover in a brand new series. The theme for Volume 218 is 'Plants and trees in dentistry's past and present'.

The first cover, for issue 1, is an original illustration of cloves, created by artist Liz Pepperell. Liz is creating all 12 covers in the style of traditional botanical drawings.

Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the Myrtaceae family, Syzygium aromaticum. In the past cloves were used as a remedy to ease the pain of toothache. Clove oil has a local anaesthetic effect and temporarily numbs and relieves pain. It is used in the preparation of some toothpastes and in Clovacaine solution, a local anaesthetic used in oral ulceration and inflammation. Eugenol, which is extracted from essential oils including clove oil, is also mixed with zinc oxide to form temporary tooth restorations.

Artist Liz Pepperell lives in Devon and loves visiting gardens such as Nymans in West Sussex and Knightshayes Court in Devon, which inspire the plants and flowers that she paints. She works in watercolours, pencil and ink, in a style traditional in the world of botanical and natural history illustration.

When approaching an illustration, Liz first sketches loose ideas in pencil and ink on tracing paper, scrubbing out and redrawing as she goes. Whenever possible she works from life.

Future covers in Volume 218 will feature original illustrations of licorice root, miswak, myrrh, neem tree and tea tree.