Australian Podolobium tricolor. Podolobium ilicifolium. Native Holly. Curtis c1812

by Edwards, Sydenham

Prickly Pea. Previously known as Oxylobium ilicifolium and Holly-leaved Podolobium, an Australian native shrub introduced to England from New South Wales in 1791.

Lovely hand-coloured copperplate engraving by Francis Sansom after a drawing by the eminent Welsh botanical illustrator Sydenham Edwards for The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed published in London circa 1812 by T. Curtis. Illustrations for The Botanical Magazine have been revered for their scientific accuracy, and the natural pigments used in the early engravings have survived over two hundred years, ensuring their beauty endures today.

Sydenham Teast Edwards (1768-1819) was ‘discovered’ in Wales and trained in botanical illustration by William Curtis. His first illustration appeared in 1788. From 1788 to 1815 Sydenham Edwards was almost the sole artist for Curtis’s Botanical Magazine which was begun in 1787 by the Praefectus Hortis (horticultural boss) at Chelsea Physic Gardens, Willliam Curtis, to encourage the cultivation of rare wild plants, by illustrating new species that were being introduced into England. This beautifully illustrated work has been published continuously for over 230 years - now as “The Kew Magazine”.

Size of page 230 x 150mm (9 x 6 inches).