PIERRE JEAN FRANÇOIS TURPIN (FRENCH, 1775 - 1840). Trumpet Flower.

PIERRE JEAN FRANÇOIS TURPIN (FRENCH, 1775 - 1840)
“Solandra Longiflora Trumpet Flower”
Preparatory drawing for F.R. Tussac. Flore des Antilles, ou histoire générale botanique, rurale et economique des végétaux indigènes des Antilles. Paris: chez l’auteur, F. Schoell et Hautel, 1808-1827 Vol.2, Plate 12
Watercolor and pencil on paper
Paper size:

Tussac wrote of this plant:
“The traveler most indifferent to the beauties of nature stops spontaneously, when he meets on his route a tree whose age would make it hideous, if its branches were wrapped in the vine-like stems of the solander, from which hang at different intervals flowers of a rare length and beauty, and of the most sophisticated, did not lend it all the charms and graces of youth. If there are no trees near this plant, on which it can climb, it extends its long branches on the rocks near by. The famous Swartz dedicated this beautiful plant to Solandre; Mr. de Lamark placed it in the genus datura, from which it seems to me to differ a little, first by its facies, then by its capsule which is entirely divided into four lodges, which are filled with a pulp in which the seeds are nestled; while the capsule of the datura is only half-divided into four empty parts, and the seeds are attached to the walls of the partition on protruding placentas. This plant is found in the lower mountains of Cape Francais; I have also found it in Jamaica; it flowers in the months of January, February and March. Its fruits ripen in the month of August.”

Appeared in F.R. Tussac. Flore des Antilles, ou histoire générale botanique, rurale et economique des végétaux indigènes des Antilles. Paris: chez l’auteur, F. Schoell et Hautel, 1808-1827 — a partial study for Vol.2, Plate 12.