Common Fleabane of the family Compositae (Inula dysenterica)

Watercolour botanical study painted by Clara Peters. Miss Clara Elizabeth Peters was born in Derbyshire in 1864, the daughter of a Major J.J.Peters. She arrived at Arlington Court, North Devon in 1911, as a paid companion to Miss Rosalie Chichester. Clara was a talented watercolourist, and many of her paintings can still be seen at Arlington Court. They show a talent and interest which she shared with Miss Chichester. During the First World War, Clara and Miss Chichester moved out of Arlington Court to Home Farm, as many of the estate staff were called up to fight. During this time, they created botanical diaries detailing the locations of the flora that they recorded. Many of Clara's botanical watercolours were given to the North Devon Athenaeum before her death in 1939 and are now held at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon.