Notice sur l'Oxalide de Deppe

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Annales des sciences physiques et naturelles, d'agriculture et d'industrie de Lyon, I, 1838, illustrated with 3 lithographed plates including one folding. (cf. Stafleu, II, 2645. Not in Pritzel.)

Upper right corner of the front wrapper restored.

An appealing copy, bearing a presentation inscription from the author on the front wrapper: "Hommage à M. Lemaire. Offert par l'auteur". This may refer to the botanist Charles Lemaire (1800–1871), author of the Flore des serres et des jardins de l'Europe and a specialist in cacti—plants that are almost exclusively native to the Americas.

Minor tears and marginal losses to the wrappers; some foxing.

Rare.

The oxalis described here is an ornamental plant native to Mexico, dedicated to the German naturalist and explorer Ferdinand Deppe (1795–1861), who travelled extensively in the country between 1824 and 1829, collecting significant natural history specimens for the Berlin Museum. Brought to England in 1827, the plant was introduced to France in 1833 and bloomed there for the first time the following year. This monograph contains a botanical description, information on its cultivation, uses—including culinary—as well as a bibliography. A doctor of medicine, botanist and political figure in Lyon, Jacques Louis Hénon (1802–1872) was then director of the departmental nursery of the Rhône. An appealing copy, bearing a presentation inscription on the front wrapper: "Hommage à M. Lemaire. Offert par l'auteur". This may refer to the botanist Charles Lemaire (1800–1871), author of the Flore des serres et des jardins de l'Europe and a specialist in cacti, which are almost exclusively native to the Americas.