Curtis Botanical – Plate 8483 – Willow-leaved Magnolia / Anise Magnolia

Original antique black-and-white botanical print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine — Plate 8483.

Plant: Magnolia Salicifolia (Willow-leaved Magnolia / Anise Magnolia). Native to: Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu).

Crush the bark or a twig and it smells strongly of lemon and anise — one of botany's more startling surprises. White star-shaped flowers appear on bare branches before the leaves in early spring. Magnolias evolved before bees existed; their flowers are built for beetle pollination.

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.