The Female Hemp

Elizabeth Blachrie Blackwell (1707-1758) was a Scottish botanical illustrator and the author of A Curious Herbal, published in 1737 and 1739. Blackwell was the first woman to have singularly published an herbal, an encyclopedia detailing the medicinal properties of plants.

This illustration of the female hemp plant is one of 500 botanical species Blackwell painted from living specimens at the Chelsea Physic Garden, a garden developed to educate apothecaries on plant identification. Between 1737 and 1739, Blackwell published weekly four plates that she had drawn, engraved, and hand-coloured herself. Blackwell also engraved the text of the work, an unusual practice in botanical manuscripts. Traditionally the production of such an herbal would have employed three separate artists, but Blackwell completed all three tasks herself. The College of Physicians, when presented with Blackwell’s creation, issued a glowing endorsement. Previous herbals sorely lacked the comprehensiveness of Blackwell’s atlas of medicinal plants, and Blackwell enjoyed financial success from her work. She used the proceeds from her herbal to liberate her husband from debtor’s prison.

“The Female Hemp” is an illustration of Cannabis foemina, a medicinal herb. Blackwell’s entry in the rare book indicates some of hemp’s medical uses, with particular regard to the plant’s seed. Blackwell notes, “It is planted in Fields and Gardens yearly, and produces its Seed in August; for this Species of Hemp never bears any visible Flower. The Seed being boil’d in Milk, till it cracks, is accounted good for old Coughs, and a Specific to cure the Jaundice.”