Botanical Art Gallery

Areca catechu, L. (Betelnut, pinang, areca nut)

Watercolour on paper, no date (late 18th, early 19th century). Hand painted copy of an illustration commissioned by William Roxburgh (1751-1815). Roxburgh reports in his Flora Indica': Where this tree grows wild I cannot say from my own observation, but it is cultivated in the warmer parts of Asia, and is in flower most part of the year. It is the most beautiful palm we have in India. The seed is usually wrapoped in a wad of betel pepper leaves and chewed, promoting saliva and releasing arecaine, a mild narcotic. A brown dye can also be obtained from this plant

© RBG KEW

Urania speciosa, Willd.(Ravenala madagascariensis, Travellers Palm')

Watercolour on paper, undated (late 18th, early 19th century). Hand painted copy of an illustration commissioned by William Roxburgh (1751-1815). In Flora Indica Roxburgh recalls In 1802 three plants of this elegant tree were brought from the Island of Mauritius by Capt. Tennant to the Botanic Garden at Calcutta. They were planted in different soils, and situations. That which was in a very moist place, and in a rich brownish black soil, throve more luxuriantly than the other two, though in a soil equally rich but lighter coloured, much higher and drier; the former flowered for the first time about the close of 1806 and again in September, 1807

© RBG KEW