At first glance, the name umbrella wort doesn’t really make sense for this plant. But, the umbrella part comes into play during seed production. This annual flowering plant thought to be from Peru, produces an umbrella-like structure to protect the seeds as they dry.
The pink flowers are lovely but not as striking as some of the other flowers contained in Mr. Curtis’ magazine. It does, however, flower most of the summer (June through October) but the sap is disagreeably scented.
Lucky for us, we don’t have to smell this plant just enjoy this beautiful hand-colored plate which was drawn from a real plant owned by the Marchioness of BUTE in 1796 and was grown from seeds harvested in Peru.
And, yes, you’ve read it right, this flower image and book illustration dates back over 200 years and is therefore fully in the public domain.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
