Printed model to printed image: Senecio

Images, and consequently their sources, can become important in scientific argument. One case associated with Morison’s Historia is the Oxford ragwort, a plant that has spread throughout Britain from the Oxford Botanic Garden, following the arrival of the railway in the city in the 1840s (for a summary of this history, see Harris, 2002).

Druce (1927) cited Morison’s Historia (1699) as evidence that Oxford ragwort was growing in the Botanic Garden before 1699 based on the observation that the plant, ‘Jacobaea Sicula Chrysanthemi facie’, over-winters as a perennial and the illustration in the Historia. However, the text in the Historia, and the associated plate, were copied from Boccone’s Icones & descriptiones rariorum plantarum Siciliae, Melitae, Galliae, & Italiae (1674), which Morison edited. Paulo Boccone (1633-1703/4) was a Cistercian monk who was botanist to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and Professor of Botany at Padua. Boccone visited England, and attended a meeting of the Royal Society, in 1673.

The descriptions of ‘Jacobaea Sicula Chrysanthemi facie’ in Boccone (1674: 66-67) and in Morison (1699: 109, No. 15) are identical, except for the insertion of the phrase ‘Hujus datur varietas humilior, Schol. Bot. Per.’ in the latter. This phrase is a reference to WSA (1689), in which ‘Jacobaea Sicula Chrysanthemi facie’ is listed as growing in the Paris Botanic Garden. Comparison of herbarium specimens, descriptions and illustrations leads to the conclusion that the plant depicted by Boccone is not Oxford ragwort but one of its Sicilian relatives. The consequences of these misinterpretations for our understanding of the origin of Oxford ragwort in Britain are discussed by Harris (2002).

Boccone’s illustration is poor, but it is a good representation of the plant. It appears to have been made from a hastily pressed plant specimen. The confusion of leaves in the top right of the image is typical of specimens pressed with inattention to separating leaves, whilst the flowerheads on the left-hand side are splayed in a manner typical of a flattened specimen of ragwort. The engraver of Morison’s plate has simplified Boccone’s image and attempted to abstract information to construct their illustration. For example, the open flowerhead on the left of Boccone’s image has been used to create the upper-right flowerhead in the Historia, whilst a splayed head is used in the left-hand flowerhead. Careful examination of the leaves in the Boccone image reveals those used by the engraver in the Historia. The result of the engraver’s surgery is that the plant represented in the Historia bears little resemblance to any known European ragwort.

Reference

Boccone, P 1674. Icones & descriptiones rariorum plantarum Siciliae, Melitae, Galliae, & Italiae. Quarum unaquaeque proprio charactere signata, ab uliis ejusdem classis facile distinguitur. Theatro Sheldoniano, Oxford.

Druce, GC 1927. The Flora of Oxfordshire. A topographical and historical account of the flowering plants and ferns found in the country; with biographical notices of the botanists who have contributed to Oxfordshire botany during the last four centuries. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Harris, SA 2002. Introduction of Oxford ragwort, Senecio squalidus :. (Asteraceae), to the United Kingdom. Watsonia 24: 31-43.

Morison R 1699. Plantarum Historiae Universalis Oxoniensis pars tertia seu Herbarum Distributio Nova, per tabulas cognationis & affinitatis Ex Libro Naturae Observata & detecta. Oxonii, e Theathro Sheldoniano.

WSA [Sherard, W] 1689. Schola Botanica sive Catalogus Plantarum, quas ab aliquot annis in Horto Regio Parisiensi Studiosis indigitavit vir clarissimus Joseph Pitton Tournefort, D.M. ut et Pauli Hermanni P.P. Paradisi Batavi Prodromus. In quo Plantae rariores omnes, in Batavorum Hortis hactenus cultae, & pluriman partem a nemine antea descriptae recensentur Edente in luceum. Henry Wetsten, Amsterdam.