‘Lieut Sulivan’s Passion-flower’ S Watts

Botanical study of Passiflora amethystine, here referred to as Lieutenant’s Sulivan’s passion-flower (Passiflora onychina) a plant native to South America. The plate shows flowers and leaves, with a sectional detail of the plant’s reproductive organs.

Frontispiece plate [plate 21] from Edwards’s botanical register…edited by John Lindley, new series v.1, (London, James Ridgway and Sons, 1838). The plate is inscribed ‘21’ above; and below ‘Miss Drake del. Pub. by J. Ridgway 169 Piccadilly Ap. 1 1838. S Watts. Sc.’

In the associated text, the author states that: ‘the beautiful Passion-flower now figured, was obtained from the stove of Miss Traill, Bromley, Kent…At that time I believed it had been for the first time introduced by Mr Lowe, of Clapton; but..[actually] by Mr Booth, who sent me a drawing of it some years ago under the name of P. Sulivani…’ Lindley further notes that: ‘For this pretty addition to our collection of Passifloras, we are indebted to Bartholomew James Sulivan Esq., now of H.M.S. Beagle, who procured the seeds, with others, from the Botanic Garden at Rio de Janeiro, in 1827’. "