Plants and Fungi Gallery

Senna alata, R

Watercolour on paper. Hand painted copy of an illustration commissioned by William Roxburgh (1751-1815). In his Flora Indica, Roxburgh describes this species as a large shrub. Roxburgh notes that when cultivated, this species flowers around the end of the wet and beginning of the cold seasons, and that the seed ripens around the end of the cold season. Roxburgh also tells how this plant is employed as a medical remedy. The drawing has been inscribed Received from Rodney 9th June 1791, referring to the Company ship which delivered the drawings

© RBG KEW