Description

Bowiea volubilis Harv. original illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Watercolour and pencil on paper. For several years a specimen of this plant, sent to Kew by Henry Hutton of Grahamstown, was an object of great curiosity at Kew. It had a twining, branched flower stem that bore no flowers, and nobody could guess as to which family it belonged. The following year, a similar twining stem produced a few minute flower buds, which were sent to Dr Harvey, who identified them with a plant of which he had dried specimens, collected on the eastern frontier of the Cape district by Mrs Barber, and to which he attached the manuscript name of Bowiea. Other living specimens have also been received from Mrs Barber and Mr Wilson Saunders, collected by Cooper.