Liparia vestita – Mountain Pea, Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 1821

An original hand-coloured copperplate engraving of Liparia vestita, published as plate 2223 in Volume 48 of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine on 1 September 1821. Engraved by Weddell and published in London by Samuel Curtis.

Native to the Cape Province of South Africa, Liparia vestita is an evergreen shrub belonging to the pea family, Fabaceae. Commonly known as the mountain pea or silver pea, it bears brilliant golden-yellow flowers among densely overlapping, dark green leaves edged with fine silvery hairs. The unusual sculptural arrangement gives the flowering stems an almost cone-like appearance, captured here with exceptionally rich colour and striking botanical detail.

The finely engraved image was individually coloured by hand, as was customary for the early plates of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. Liparia vestita remains the accepted botanical name, while Priestleya vestita is now regarded as a synonym. (Kew, Plants of the World Online)

Dimensions: 14.5 x 23 cm

Condition: Good antique condition, with attractive, well-preserved hand colouring. Some light age toning, minor marks and creasing, particularly near the upper and outer margins, with slight irregularity along the right-hand edge.