Billbergia Moreliana, Bromeliad in Flower Chromolithograph Plate II, 1859

This is an original antique botanical print, a chromolithograph printed in color, numbered plate II and lettered "BILLBERGIA MORELIANA. Brongn." A hanging flower spike of crimson bracts fills the center, with long tubular flowers in pale pink tipped with yellow and slate blue spreading from it. Two long saw edged leaves in yellow green frame the spike at the left and top. Small details along the foot show a petal, a section of the ovary, stamens and a further small part, with a round diagram at the lower left.

The name is lettered in capitals with the authority "Brongn." (Brongniart). At lower left the faint artist's line reads "Q. M. R. Ver Hoell. ad nat. viv. del. 1857." (drawn from the living plant by Q. M. R. Ver Huell, 1857, his name spelled Hoell on the plate), and at lower right "L. Stroobant Sc. & Lith à Gand." (engraved and lithographed by L. Stroobant in Ghent). The plate number II. is printed at the top left.

The plate comes from the second volume of the Annales d'horticulture et de botanique, ou Flore des jardins du royaume des Pays-Bas, published at Leiden by A. W. Sythoff in 1859 for the Société royale d'horticulture des Pays-Bas under the patronage of King William III. The journal recorded cultivated and ornamental plants grown in the Netherlands and introduced from the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, from America and from Japan. Q. M. R. Ver Huell (1787 to 1860), the Dutch naval officer and artist, drew a number of the plates for the work. L. Stroobant was a lithographer working in Ghent (Gand in French).

The strong color and clear drawing make it a good choice for a study, a garden room or a hallway, framed singly or in a group of plates from the same work.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.