Curtis Botanical – Plate 6951 – Large-leafed Alseuosmia / Toropapa

Original antique black-and-white print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine — Plate 6951.

A rare New Zealand forest shrub with large, glossy leaves and small tubular flowers of extraordinary fragrance — the genus name means 'grove of fragrance.' The Māori name toropapa refers to its use in forest understoreys. Almost unknown outside New Zealand, it represents the ancient Gondwanan flora that makes New Zealand one of the world's great botanical anomalies — many of its plants evolved in isolation for 80 million years.

New Zealand and Māori heritage connection.

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.