3-011-800 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Testimonial to Dr. Lindley, from the Royal Horticultural Society, 1864. Solid silver épergne designed and made by Williams and Co., silversmiths, expressing thanks for Dr. Lindley's '...long and laborious services to the society and to the cause of science generally...By his literary labours...in producing those admirable books on systematic botany and vegetable physiology...as well as by his efficient services as a professor of University College, Dr. Lindley has earned a high degree of public esteem...the character of its ornamentation [has] a peculiar significance for Dr. Lindley, who has made certain tribes of plants the special study of his life...The stem...is ornamented with leaves of Hibiscus Lindleyi Lindleya mespiloides, &c., and bears four branches of tendril form, to support four dishes, in the centre of which...[is] a vase for flowers. Round this, as a sort of corona, a circle of the insect-like blossoms of Oncidium papilio are arranged with admirable effect, while...[elsewhere in] the design, the flowers of Sophronitis grandiflora...are tastefully introduced. It will thus be seen that the families of Orchidae and Rosaceae - on which Dr. Lindley has expended so much time and labour - have largely contributed to the decoration'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.