Buckwheat and Amphibious Persicaria, Antique Botanical Plate, circa 1873

An original antique color plate, Plate 182 of Volume IV of Anne Pratt's The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, showing the common buckwheat with the climbing and copse buckwheats and two persicarias. A dense rose pink spike of the amphibious persicaria stands upright at the center of the sheet, the clearest color on the page, and slender pink spikes of the spotted persicaria rise at the left. The pale green flowers and winged fruits of the buckwheats hang in sprays above broad arrow shaped leaves, and a twining stem runs out to the lower right.

Issued in London by Frederick Warne and Co. for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain was Anne Pratt's largest work and the one that made her name. She drew the plants as well as describing them, and the six volumes were printed in color by William Dickes, whose press specialized in natural history plates. This sheet is from Volume IV.

Anne Pratt, born at Strood in Kent in 1806 and self taught as a botanist, was among the best known botanical illustrators in Victorian England. Her books were accurate enough to be used and plain enough to be read, and this flora stayed a standard household reference for decades. Her drawings outlived her by a long way: the fern plates from this very work were still being reused, reduced and unattributed, in pocket guides well into the twentieth century.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. Slight wear at the bottom right and top left corners. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the left.

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