Antique French Herbarium Specimen Sheet - Ricinus communis (Herbier)

Antique French herbarium sheet, or herbier: a pressed and dried plant specimen mounted with small paper stays on blue-grey laid paper, hand-labelled in brown ink Genre Ricin, Euphorbiacees, Ricinus communis, Ricin commun. The castor-oil plant, recorded by an amateur naturalist or a school collection in the 19th or early 20th century.

Herbier sheets have become one of the most sought-after categories in decorative natural history, and the reason is the paper. That blue-grey laid stock, the brown iron-gall ink, and the botanical Latin in a careful hand make a composition no reproduction can match. Frame it simply and it holds a wall on its own; group several and it becomes a collection.