Luofu White

This painting is from a set of 24, each inscribed with the Chinese name of the plant. 'Luofu white' seems to be a name local to the Guangdong province and its botanical name is unclear.

Unfamiliar flora and fauna were of great interest to British botanists in the 18th and 19th centuries, and such enthusiasm gradually filtered down to the general public. Travellers often returned to Britain with foreign plants and, more commonly, paintings depicting numerous species of tropical flowers and fruits.