Madeira giant bellflower (Musschia aurea), an endemic species from Madeira, in the botanical literature of the 18th and 19th centuries
2021
Mesquita, Sandra | Castel-Branco, Cristina | Sequeira, Miguel Menezes de
Musschia aurea (Linnaeus f.) Dumortier, Madeira giant bellflower, is a plant species endemic to the Madeira Archipelago, first discovered and described in the late 18th century. As part of a broader investigation on the evolution of the knowledge of Madeira’s plants up to the 19th century, research was conducted to locate references and illustrations of Musschia aurea produced or published during the 18th and 19th centuries. We were able to retrieve 15 illustrations depicting the whole plant or details of it, comprising 3 original paintings and 12 printed illustrations, as well as several references in books about botany and gardening and catalogues of several of Europe’s leading botanic gardens. The presence of Musschia aurea in historical records touches critical moments in the history of botany and taxonomy; in the history of botanical illustration, having been depicted by famous illustrators, such as Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Sydenham Edwards and James de Carle Sowerby; and in the history of gardening and horticulture. Although the plant rapidly spread through the gardens of the European aristocracy and ruling families at the turn of the 18th century, its presence in nurseries was scarce, and there is no evidence that the Madeira giant bellflower became popular as an ornamental plant. Nevertheless, it is still present in the collections of most botanic gardens in Europe.
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