Catesby, Mark. Appendix Pl. 15, Cucumber Tree Magnolia and Velvet Ant

Mark Catesby (1638 - 1749)Etching with hand color, paper dimensions: approximately 19 x 14 inchesFrom the Appendix (Part 11) to Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama IslandsLondon: 1747 - 1771 Currently known as sweet-bay (flower), Magnolia virginiana, cucumber-tree (foliage), Magnolia acuminate, and velvet ant, Dasymutilla  occidentalis*, Catesby described these subjects as follows: Magnolia flore albo, folio majore acuminato haud albicante. Clayt.  The seminal parts of this Plant, the ovarium and cone, have so near an affinity and resemblance to the other species of this Genus, that it is needless to be particular in their descriptions, otherwise than to observe wherein this differs from them. The leaves are broad, some of them being above eve inches wide, and eight in length, ending in a sharp point. The flower is five inches wide, consisting of twelve white petals, in the center of which is the ovarium environed by the apices, as in the other kinds. The co