Author and illustrator Bente Starcke King focused on botanical illustration. She taught botanical illustration at Cornell Plantations for 25 years and was a scientific illustrator at the Bailey Hortorium. King spent 15 years working at the Bailey Hortorium, leaving in 1995 to begin a successful career as an independent artist. Her work has been exhibited at Cornell's Johnson Museum; locally in Ithaca; and elsewhere nationally and internationally, including many national and international meetings of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. In 2004, King published an educational book and video, entitled "Beautiful Botanicals".