Curtis Botanical – Plate 5612 – Blue Cypella / Blue Tiger Flower

Original antique black-and-white print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine — Plate 5612.

A South American bulb in the iris family with delicate, sky-blue flowers of almost translucent quality — the three inner petals are spotted and blotched in darker blue like a watercolour painting. The genus is named for Cypella, a nymph in Virgil's Eclogues.

Birth flower: February (iris family). February birth flower 🌸 (iris family).

Uncolored plate. Condition consistent with age of volume. Each print is a unique piece of botanical history, printed on paper aged over a century.

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.