Endemics of St Helena

Trochetiopsis ebenus

Michel has recently put two interesting posts on M. Dancoisne-Martineau - artiste peintre.

One contains beautiful paintings of the endemics of St Helena.

The other contains his artistic imagining of an extinct ebony Dombeya Melanoxylon described in some detail in his memoirs by Dr Antommarchi, who attended Napoleon in his final months on St Helena.


Dombeya Melanoxylon
The plant also caught the eye of former Governor Alexander Beatson, who said it was a native of the barren rocks near the sea on the south side of the island, not far from Sandy Bay.

"I saw it in two gardens only, where it had in many years grown to the height of only 2-3 feet, with many longer branches spreading flat on the ground, well decorated with abundance of foliage and large beautiful flowers."(1)

Apparently dried fragments of Dombeya Melanoxylon, brought back to England by Captain Cook, are preserved in the collections at Kew.
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1. Major-General Alexander Beatson.Tracts Relative To The Island Of St. Helena Written During A Residence Of Five Years 1816 p 307

The Artist of St Helena: Preparing for a New Exhibition

Interesting post on Michel's blog - Retour à la peinture about the paintings he is preparing for an exhibition in November.

I am very pleased that he has not put down his brush, and I particularly liked this painting of 80 year old George Benjamin, holding the St Helena Ebony, which he apparently rediscovered.

A pity that an artist of Michel's talent was not on St Helena during the captivity of Napoleon.

Wonder if I could persuade him to paint me - perhaps if I reach 80!

The Artist of St Helena

Interesting that two of the bloggers that I follow regularly, Michel and Carmi, are talented artists. Michel apparently had not taken up a paint brush for two years until his recent painting of the St Helena Ebony. What a fine talent. I hope that it will not be another two years before he takes up the paint brush again.