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  • Article

Hunting lost plants in botanical collections

A bark specimen at Kew recalls the story of a South American man who harvested the most potent source of the only effective malaria treatment available in the late 1800s. Killed for his work and forgotten by history, Manuel Mamani was a victim of the colonial juggernaut.

  • Article

Indian botanicals and heritage wars

Colonial botanical texts, as astonishingly beautiful as they are, may cast very dark shadows.

  • Article

The healing power of the physic garden

Having experienced the healing power of plants and gardens, Iona Glen goes in search of present-day “physic gardens” and their origins in history.

  • Book extract

Ayurveda: Knowledge for long life

The story of medicine in India is rich and complex. Aarathi Prasad investigates how it came to be this way.

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Images

  • Zantedeschia aethiopica (L)Spreng. Calla lily, Arum lily. Half hardy annual. Distribution: South Africa. The genus name commemorates Giovanni Zantedeschi (1773-1846) an Italian physician and botanist. Born in Molina he studied medicine in Verona and Padua. He corresponded with the German botanist, Kurt Sprengel, who named the genus Zantedeschia in his honour in 1826, separating it from Calla, where, as C. aethiopica, it had been previously described by Linnaeus. He had broad interests, including the effect of different parts of the spectrum of light on plant growth, reporting in 1843, that red, orange and yellow light are heliotropically inactive. The botanic museum in Molina is dedicated to his memory. Aethiopica, merely means 'African'. The leaves are used as a warm poultice for headaches in ‘muthi’ medicine. It has become an invasive weed in parts of Australia. It was introduced, as a greenhouse plant, to Europe in the mid-17th century, where the long lasting flowers are popular in flower arranging and for weddings and funerals – a curious combination (Oakeley, 2012). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Three fairies in a garden looking at the plants; representing botany. Stipple engraving by J. Chapman after R. Corbould.
  • Jardin des Plantes, Paris: figures strolling the grounds alongside the glasshouses. Coloured lithograph by J. Jacottet.
  • Jardin des Plantes, Paris: as seen from across the river with the Pont d'Austerlitz and Prise de l'Arsenal. Coloured line engraving.
  • Brugmansia suaveolens 'Pink Beauty'
  • Brugmansia suaveolens'Pink Beauty'
  • Sarcococca hookeriana var digyna
  • Zinnia cultivar
  • Zinnia cultivar
  • Zinnia cultivar
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