“Botany is the eldest daughter of medicine…”
Johann Herman Bass
Sturt’s Desert Pea is the State floral emblem of South Australia. Ironically I painted this in New South Wales, at the Australian Inland Botanical Garden, which has the largest known planting of the species. For the technically minded, Swainsona formosa is a prostrate annual or a short live perennial herb. It was first collected in 1699 by William Dampier. These specimens are today in the Herbarium of Oxford University. I had always assumed that they were discovered and named by the explorer Charles Sturt, but sadly not. Like my favourite footy team. this iconic Australian plant was named after him, not by him. In 1999 there was a proposal to rename the species Wildampia, but sensibly this move was soundly rejected. #formosameans handsome #letsmakelemonade
Pen Paint and Scalpel 