Description:This plate from The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala by James Bateman shows epidendrum erubescens, also known as Blushing Epidendrum, for reasons that are quite self-evident!
During the 19th century orchid craze it was "made a special object in the instructions of the various collectors who have been sent from time to time to ransack the forest treasures of Oaxaca."
However, at the time of writing most examples had perished in transit from Central America, meaning the only references for Europeans were dried specimens belonging to Munich's Royal Herbarium.
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For more information about the Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala - and some of the Staffordshire personalities involved with this important publication - please download the information sheet.
About this book
Only 125 copies of this book were published.
It is physically one of the largest botanical books ever published, and appears here by kind permission of The Spode Museum Trust.