A rare and decorative exotic botanical print of a White Teak or Kashmir tree, labeled in Latin, Malayalam, Arabic, and Sanskrit. The twelve volume Hortus Malabaricus (Garden of Malabar) was published between 1678 and 1703 as a result of collaboration between the former governor of Malabar, local Ayuverdic doctors, physicians, botanists, translators and artisans from India and the Netherlands. It is the first comprehensive record of the plant wealth of India and the medicinal uses of those plants.
Gmelina arborea, (in English beechwood, gmelina, goomar teak, Kashmir tree, Malay beechwood, white teak, yamane), locally known as gamhar, is a fast-growing deciduous tree in the family Lamiaceae. Gmelina arborea grows naturally throughout India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and in southern provinces of China. It is found at altitudes from sea level to 1,500 metres (5,000 ft).
This tree is commonly planted as a garden and an avenue tree; growing in villages along agricultural land and on village community lands and wastelands. It is light demanding, tolerant of excessive drought, and moderately frost hardy. The Lion Throne, the most important, and last surviving, of the eight royal thrones of Myanmar, now in the National Museum in Yangon, is carved from Gmelina arborea wood. 'Kumizh tree' when burnt yields the whitest possible ash; mention is made by certain 'rock art enthusiasts' that this ash is one of the ingredients in the semi-solid white ochre used to draw the very ancient 'cave paintings,' as old as 3,000 to 5,000 years or more; found in the dense forests of Tamil Nadu.
Tamarind lumber is used to make furniture, carvings, turned objects such as mortars and pestles, chopping blocks, and other small specialty wood items. In homes and temples, especially in Buddhist Asian countries, the fruit pulp is used to polish brass shrine statues and lamps, and copper, brass, and bronze utensils. Throughout South Asia and the tropical world, tamarind trees are used as ornamental, garden, and cash crop plantings. Commonly used as a bonsai species in many Asian countries, it is also grown as an indoor bonsai in temperate parts of the world.
The publication of the twelve volumes of Hortus Malabaricus (Garden of Malabar) is believed to be the earliest comprehensive published work on the flora of Asia and the tropics. The volumes were published between 1678 and 1703 and was a product of the collaboration of the former governor of Malabar, Hendrik van Rheede, and a large number of Ayuverdic doctors, physicians, professors of medicine and botany, translators and artisans from India and the Netherlands. Originally written in Latin, the approximately 700 copper plate engravings include the names of the plants in four languages (Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Malayalam).
It is of great importance today as a rare record of the plant wealth of Kerala (India) and medicinal uses of those plants. Unlike many 17th century documents, the local contributors of this knowledge – the vaidyas (“healers”) Itty Achudan, Ranga Bhat, Appu Bhat, Vinayaka Pandit – do not remain unnamed, but instead have contributed sworn and signed statements of their collaboration. Indeed the ethno-medical information presented in this work was extracted from the palm leaf manuscripts of Achudan.
During the 16th century, the quality of the serious study of plants in Europe was given a huge impetus by Lucca Ghini’s invention of the ‘herbarium method’: the pressing of plants between two sheets of paper so that they could be preserved in dry form. Carolus Clusius, botanists and prefect of the Leiden Hortus botanicus, recognised the opportunity presented by the formation of the Dutch East Indies company (VOC) and recent advances in the preservations of plants to expand the plant collection of the Hortus and existing knowledge of the plant world. Apart from Clusius’ early influence, the VOC also had it in their interest to care for the health of their employees in the tropics. Recognizing the value of indigenous medicinal plants for the treatment of tropical diseases, more efforts were placed on collecting and documenting such information.
Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein (1636-1691) was botanist, naturalist, and a colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. He also served as the governor of Dutch Malabar between 1669 and 1676. He employed 25 people to create the work and described 740 plants of the region.
Text written on plates: Cumbulu. Lat
White Teak, Kashmir tree or Gmelina Arborea
Hand Colored copperplate engraving, cleaned and layed on Japanese paper for long term protection.
