Elaeis and Avoira, Pl. 896 — Encyclopédie Méthodique

The oil palm Elaeis and the related Avoira, depicted at a time when European naturalists were only beginning to document the economic botany of tropical Africa and South America.

After J. E. de Sève; engraved by Robert Bénard. Botanique, Plate 896, from the Encyclopédie Méthodique. Published in Paris, c. 1800.

The Encyclopédie Méthodique expanded upon Diderot and d'Alembert's original Encyclopédie, reorganising knowledge into subject-specific dictionaries with thousands of newly commissioned plates. Its Botanique section, overseen by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, remains a landmark of Enlightenment-era plant taxonomy and scientific illustration.

Copperplate engraving on laid paper, approximately 29.7 × 21.6 cm. Very Good.