Curtis Botanical – Plate 7139 – Ames' Vanda

Original antique black-and-white botanical print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine — Plate 7139.

Plant: Vanda Amesiana (Ames' Vanda). Native to: Southeast Asia (Myanmar / Thailand / Laos).

Named for Harvard's great orchid taxonomist Oakes Ames. Among the most fragrant vandas, with sweet-scented white to pale pink flowers. At peak Victorian orchid mania, single plants of new species sold for more than a laborer's annual wage.

Printed in London. Each print is an original page removed from a bound volume of Curtis's Botanical Magazine, the world's oldest continuously published botanical journal (founded 1787). Uncolored plate. Sold individually. Minor age-related toning consistent with 19th-century paper.

This plate originated with the Royal Horticultural Society and passed through Wheldon & Wesley, one of the great natural history dealers of the 20th century. We came into the archive by accident and have spent the time since trying to share it as widely as we can.