Curtis Botanical – Plate 8858 – Sikkim Onion / Blue Himalayan Allium

Original antique black-and-white botanical print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine — Plate 8858.

Plant: Allium Sikkimense (Sikkim Onion / Blue Himalayan Allium). Native to: Himalaya (Sikkim / Nepal / Tibet).

A member of the onion and garlic family — but producing deep blue-purple nodding flowers at high altitude. Collected during the Victorian era when the Himalayan kingdoms were being opened to botanical exploration through diplomatic negotiation.

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.