London, L. Reeve, 1892. 8vo-sized (25.0 x 15.6 cm). Hand-coloured lithographed plate. Printed on one side.

A finely illustrated plate from William Curtis's famous "Botanical Magazine". The plate, numbered 7260, shows Monodora myristica, the calabash nutmeg: a tropical tree of the family Annonaceae or custard apple family of flowering plants. In former times, its seeds were widely sold as a less expensive nutmeg substitute. Other names of calabash nutmeg include Jamaican nutmeg, African nutmeg, ehuru, ariwo, awerewa, ehiri, airama, African orchid nutmeg, muscadier de Calabash and lubushi" (Wikipedia). The illustration, for Curtis' Botanical Magazine volume 118 [Serie 3, volume 48] was drawn by Matilda Smith, engraved by J. N. Fitch and printed by Vincent Brooks Day and Son. Edges slightly toned and frayed in the cortners, three small holes of former binding in the right outer margin, otherwise very good, unmarked.