Botanical Art Gallery

Cactus indicus, R. (Opuntia)

Watercolour on paper, no date (late 18th century). Hand painted copy of an illustration commissioned by William Roxburgh. Roxburgh noted in his 'Flora Indica' that this cactus was common around Calcutta, and concluded 'there is every reason to imagine it is a native of these countries'. These plants were probably introduced to India from the West Indies as early as the late 15th Century, initially for their fruit, and later for the dye made from cochineal insects (Dactylopius coccus) which infect these plants. The drawing includes studies of these insects, the winged male can be seen far right, the female with her protective white covering in several stages on the left. It is likely that there are actually three plant species represented on this drawing. Fig.1 is possibly Opuntia stricta/dillenii, Fig.2 Nopalea cochenillifera, and Fig.3 Opuntia tuna

© RBG KEW

Decabelone barklyi, (Dyer) N.E. Br

Hand coloured lithograped, colour proof for plate 6203, from Curtis's Botanical Magazine, published 1st December 1875. Hand-coloured lithograph. According to Joseph Dalton Hooker, this species has been found in Little Namaqualand and in the Karoo, near the Orange River. The original illustration is partly based upon a drawing for which Kew is indebted to Mrs. Barber and partly upon specimens which flowered at Kew

© RBG KEW

781. Poison Tree strangled by a Fig, Queensland

The central figure of this picture represents the skeleton-like trunk of a Fig Tree, which has nearly strangled the Poison Tree (Laportea, moroides, Wedd.), in a fork of whose branches it started life as a seedling epiphyte. It soon grew apace, and s

© RBG KEW

Art, Artist, Fig, Leaves, Marianne North, Painting, Poison Tree, Queens Land, Skeleton Like, Strangled, Trunk