Curtis Botanical – Plate 8041 – Orange Trumpet Orchid

Original antique black-and-white botanical print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine — Plate 8041.

Plant: Mormodes Buccinator var. aurantiacum (Orange Trumpet Orchid). Native to: Mexico / Central America (tropical forest).

The column of this orchid is spring-loaded and twisted — designed to physically catapult pollen onto visiting bees. Named for the trumpeter muscle in the human cheek. The mechanism is essentially a botanical catapult, documented with full Victorian seriousness in a London botanical journal.

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 is an original uncolored (plain) plate from leftover publisher stock of Curtis's Botanical Magazine, printed in London. It was issued uncolored and never bound. We bought the holding at the estate of a Chicago rare bookseller. Labels and stock papers from the British dealer Wheldon & Wesley came with it. Library stamps, when present, are noted on the listing.