Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.21558
    Looking for a special gift? Buy a print of this image.

    ‘Laelia autumnalis’

    Date
    1838
    Creator
    Maxim Gauci (1774 - 1854, Italian) , Lithographer
    Paul Gauci (British) , Printer
    Creator - Organisation
    J Ridgway & Sons, Publisher
    After
    Augusta Innes Withers (1792 - 1877, British) , Illustrator
    Object type
    Library reference
    26846
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 580mm
    width (print): 430mm
    Subject
    Biology
       > Botany
    Content object
    nature
       > plant
    Description
    Botanical illustration of Laelia autumnalis or the autumn-flowering Laelia orchid. Depicted as a large cluster of pseudo-bulbs with papery membranes. Thin glossy leaves emerge from the apex of the bulbs along with the scape forming bracts which bear a few large open flowers with pointed pinkish-purple petals and red tipped lips. One stem is cut and placed at the front of the composition, while another is not yet in flower. The old bulbs are shrivelled in appearance and a tangle of green tipped roots at the base.

    Inscribed ‘Pl.9, Mrs. Withers, delt. LAELIA AUTUMNALIS. M. Gauci, lith. Pubd. by J Ridgway & Sons, 169 Piccadilly, March 1, 1838. Printed by P. Gauci, 9 North Crescent, Bedford Sqe.
    Pate 9 fromThe Orchidaceae of Mexico & Guatemala by James Bateman (London, 1843).

    James Bateman (1811-1897), British horticulturalist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1838.

    Powered by CollectionsIndex+/CollectionsOnline