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Overview
Nancy Adams was one of New Zealand’s most prolific botanists, and a talented artist. She painted an incredible number of botanical illustrations, using them to produce important books about New Zealand flora, seaweeds, mosses and trees. One of these books is Wild Flowers in New Zealand, Nancy Adams’ homage to the flowers often overlooked—dismissed as weeds, or too commonplace to be investigated with curiosity.
In her introduction to Wild Flowers in New Zealand Adams outlines her philosophy towards this kind of flora:
We are rightly concerned with the preservation of our native vegetation in all its forms, yet strangely blind to a most diverse and interesting flora made up of naturalised and native plants that is now found in all but the more remote areas of mountain, bush and swamp.
The fifteen full-colour watercolour plates are skilfully painted by Adams, accompanied by charming descriptive text. She includes rich descriptions of the flowers’ colours, the places they tend to pop up, and oftentimes their reputation among gardeners. Much like Adams’ botanical illustrations, Wild Flowers in New Zealand is a book that blends the whimsy and the precision of her approach to botanical illustration.
This watercolour is included in Wild Flowers in New Zealand as 'Plate 5'.
Here are Adams' descriptions of the flowers, starting with the two on the left:
"Montbretia, a bright-orange, persistent weed, forms dense clumps and was probably an escape from Victorian gardens. It grows in both sunny and shady places with pale-green, sword-shaped leaves arising from a rough corm. The common montbretia is a garden hybrid.
Botanical name: Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora, South Africa. Family: Iridaceae.
Sparaxias in various shades have also spread from gardens in warm, dry places form a colourful carpet when their flowers open fully in bright sunshine. Unlike the related freesia with which they are sometimes found, sparaxias have no scent.
Botanical name: Sparaxis tricolor, South Africa. Family: Iridaceae."
Top right then bottom right:
"Despite a vigorous campaign to eradicate it, cape tulip is still found on dry wasteland. As it is a very poisonous plant it should be destroyed at once. The flowers may be yellow or salmon-orange, opening in the sun.
Botanical name: Homeria collina, South Africa. Family: Iridaceae.
This very pretty, small, tufted plant with bright violet flowers, known as blue-eyed grass, grows in warm, dry places. A long succession of flowers in spring and summer open only on sunny days. Similar species with white or golden flowers also occur.
Botanical name: Sisyrinchium angustifolium, California. Family: Iridaceae."