Curtis Botanical – Plate 6330 – Lobed Slipper Flower / Lobed Calceolaria

Original antique black-and-white print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine — Plate 6330.

A Peruvian and Chilean calceolaria with the characteristic pouched, slipper-shaped flower (calceolaria = little shoe) in yellow, spotted with red — like a tiny inflated slipper or purse. Calceolarias were a Victorian greenhouse obsession, bred into spectacular spotted and marbled forms.

South American (Andean) 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.