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 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.