Xanthorrhoea Resiona: Engraving from Joseph Banks' Florilegium

SYDNEY PARKINSON and JAMES MILLER (artists)

‘Plate 334. Xanthorrhoea Resinosa, Persoon subsp. resinosa, Acoroides resinifera (Xanthorrhoeaceae)’

London: Alecto Historical Editions in association with the British Museum (Natural History), 1980-1990

Engraving by Gabriel Smith, printed à la poupée by Alecto Historical Editions. 

Limited to 116 impressions, this no. 3 of 3 for exhibition and numbered ‘EP 3/3’






❧ XANTHORRHOEA RESINOSA, PERSOON SUBSP. RESINOSA, ACOROIDES RESINIFERA (XANTHORRHOEACEAE)

Species spotted at Endeavour River, Australia
17 June – 4 August 1770

Since Joseph Banks recorded experiences and observations with the same enthusiasm with which he gathered plants during the Endeavour voyage, his journal contains an extensive description of Australia beyond its plants. Banks ‘much wishd indeed to have had better opportunities of seeing and observing the people, as they differ so much from the account that [the explorer William] Dampier (the only man I know of who has seen them besides us) has given of them . . . Dampier in general seems to be a faithfull relater, but in the voyage in which he touchd on the coast of New Holland he was in a ship of Pyrates, possibly himself not a little tainted by their idle examples: . . . Dampier either was mistaken very much in his account or else that he saw a very different race of people from those we have seen’ (Banks, The Endeavour Journal, 31 August 1770).

Ironically, Banks’ account of this grass-tree, the Xanthorrhoea Resinosa, conflates the species found at Botany Bay with this northern variant, now known as Xanthorrhoea Johnsonii. He describes it as ‘a small plant with long narrow grassy leaves and a spike of flowers resembling much that kind of Bulrush which is calld in England Cats tail; this yeilded a resin of a bright yellow colour perfectly resembling Gambouge only that it did not stain; it had a sweet smell but what its properties are the chymists may be able to determine’ (ibid.).

‘The two species are quite different. Xanthorrhoea resinosa has a trunk at most 60 cm (2 ft) tall and is found in the Blue Mountains and from Sydney south to eastern Victoria on sand or sandstone. Xanthorrhoea johnsonii is often almost stemless, but can reach up to 5 m (16 ft) tall, and grows in eucalypt woodland and heath in Queensland south to the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. It is held to be poisonous to stock, but its foliage (‘steel grass’) is used commercially in floristry. The species name johnsonii commemorates Lawrence (Lawrie) A. S. Johnson (1925-1997), a versatile Australian botanist. The genus Xanthorrhoea, from Xanthos, yellow, and rheo, flow, referring to the yellow resinous gum, comprises 28 species and is restricted to Australia. They are slow-growing, long-lived and fire-tolerant plants, with thick stems that produce resins at the bases of old leaves. This resin, known as acaroid, was formerly used to fix spear-heads to shafts and is still utilized as varnish or lacquer for metals and leather. Xanthorrhoea semiplana subsp. tateana (yakka) is the basis of the yacca gum industry, on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, which once produced 1,000 tons per annum’ (Gooding, Mabberley, and Studholme no 108).

Literature: Gooding, Mabberley, and Studholme, Joseph Banks’ Florilegium no 108.



SPECIFICATIONS

The engravings are all of a very similar size, with platemarks of circa 457 x 305mm, and are printed on acid-free Somerset mould-made 300gsm paper manufactured by the Inveresk Paper Company. Each sheet is watermarked ‘AHE’, measures 724 x 556mm, and bears blind embossed stamps incorporating the publishers’ and printer’s chops, the copyright symbol, and date of publication; the initials of the individual printer, the plate number, and the edition number are recorded in pencil. The engravings are protected by a bifolium of acid-free Somerset mould-made 300gsm paper, cut to form a window mount on which is recorded the modern and Banksian names of the plant, the location and date of its collection and the name(s) of the artist and engraver. 

This print accompanied by a certificate of limitation.


This print is no longer available.




© Type & Forme and Alecto Historical Editions/Trustees of the Natural History Museum 2020