Original watercolour of a rose species, described in accompanying text as Rosa arvensis Huds., by Alfred Parsons (1847-1920). Produced for Ellen Wilmott's 'The Genus Rosa' (London: John Murray, 1914), and bound into Volume I of the RHS Lindley Library's copy of this work. [Bound in with Plate 3].
Alfred Parsons was an English artist, illustrator, landscape painter and garden designer. He was well known for his English landscape paintings and fine botanical illustrations. Ellen Willmott's 'The Genus Rosa', published in two volumes between 1910 and 1914, includes 132 watercolours of roses painted by Parsons between 1890 and 1908, which are now held by the RHS Lindley Library in London.
Ellen Willmott (1858-1934) was an English horticulturist and an influenital member of the Royal Horticultural Society. She received the Society's first Victoria Medal of Honour in 1897. Rosa arvensis (common names: field rose, musk rose). It was first described by British botanist William Hudson in 1762.