1741 Utrasum bean tree, Rumpf, Herbarium Amboinense, Indonesia, hand color folio

Utrasum bean tree.

First modern binomial depiction of the species.

Large folio.

40.7 x 25.6 cm

Issued in Herbarium Amboinense, plurimas conplectens arbores, frutices, herbas, plantas terrestres & aquaticas, quae in Amboina, et adjacentibus reperiunter insulis Het Auctuarium ofte Vermeerdering op her Amboinsch Kruyd-Boek. 1741.

Hand colour.

Printed on fine chain linked watermarked paper.

Very light age toning to lower right corner.

Reference: Hunt 518

"Few important scientific works have come to print under greater difficulties" (Hunt). 

"The flora of Amboina is typically Malayan, although a few Australian types are present as in other parts of the Malayan region. Practically all the species found along the seacoast are of general distribution from India to Malaya and Polynesia ."(Merrill). 

In 1652 Rumphius enlisted with the Dutch East Indies Company and took up residence in Amboina in 1653. His sight was failing and by 1670, when his great work was ready for publication, he had become blind. His bad fortunes continued when in 1674 his wife was killed in an earthquake, and in 1687 a fire destroyed his library including his original drawings. These were drawn anew by his son Paul, and in 1692 the manuscript of the first six volumes was sent to Holland for publication, but the ship carrying it was destroyed by the French. Copies of the manuscript for the complete work did not reach Holland until 1697, where it languished for 32 years in the archives of the Dutch East Indies Company. Rumpf illustrated plants both from Amboina and from surrounding islands, particularly Banda.

Rumphius’ son Paul August undertook most of the illustrations, although it remains unclear who undertook the engravings.

Elaeocarpus angustifolius is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and occurs from India to New Caledonia and northern Australia. Common synonyms are E. ganitrus and E. sphaericus. It is a large evergreen tree, often with buttress roots, and has leaves with wavy serrations, creamy white flowers and more or less spherical bright blue drupe fruit. In English, the tree is known as utrasum bean tree in India. In Sri Lanka recorded names are woodenbegar and Indian bead tree. It is simply known as elaeocarpus in the Northern Territory of Australia. Other names used for this tree in Australia are Indian oil fruit and genitri. In Hawaii it (or the possible synonym E. grandis) is known as a blue marble tree.

Writing from the island of Ambon in the Moluccas in the mid-16th century, the German-Dutch soldier, merchant and botanist Georg Eberhard Rumphius provided the first modern binomial description of the species in his work Herbarium Amboniense, in which he introduced the species to European science as Ganitrus Ganitri.