Australian Ferdinand Bauer Muellerina Eucalyptoides limited edition print

by Bauer, Ferdinand

Australian aerial vine Muellerina eucalyptoides, Creeping Mistletoe. Rare Limited Edition reproduction print of a watercoloured drawing by Austrian artist Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) for "The Australian Painting of Ferdinand Bauer", a selection reproduced from Bauer's 'Illustrations Florae Novae Hollandiae' (Illustrations of the Flora of Australia originally published in London circa 1815. Between 1801 and 1805 Bauer accompanied Matthew Flinders on the first circumnavigation of Australia. Unfortunately Brown could not find financial support for publication on his return to England, so Bauer left England and returned to Vienna where he finished his series of plants and animals of Australia. The high quality of Ferdinand Bauer's botanical illustrations combined exceptional scientific observation with subtle artistry. 

First collected at River Grose, New South Wales, in January 1804, this perennial parasite is now endemic to Australia and is regularly found on trees in Victoria, New South Wales, and southern Queensland. From the botanical genus Loranthaceae, with its green and red flowers it mimics the leaf form of the eucalyptus, hence the species name of eucalyptoides.

The botanical plate paper size is 50 x 33cm (19.6 x 13 inches). For presentation at the time of publication, each of these pages was lightly attached at the vertical edges to a dark green sheet of thick paper which has slightly shrunk.