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The Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas, are an isolated archipelago east of South America in the south Atlantic Ocean.\u00a0 Uninhabited when discovered by European powers in the 1600s, dispute over its control has continued for centuries, including a deadly war between Argentina and Britain as recently as 1982.\u00a0 The flora is quite isolated, too, with no native trees, and the largest shrubs only reaching seven feet tall.<\/p>\n
Elinor Frances Vallentin (1873-1924) was born on West Falkland Island when it was under British control.\u00a0 One of ten children, she enjoyed horseback riding with her sisters, although they were frustrated by her frequent stops to collect or look at plants.\u00a0 After marrying botanist Rubert Vallentin in 1904, she moved to England and there studied botanical illustration with Matilda Smith at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.<\/p>\n
Rubert, who had a special interest in marine algae and ferns, and Elinor returned to the Falklands in 1909.\u00a0\u00a0 During the next two years, she collected over 900 specimens of flowering plants, fungi, and lichens, all which are now preserved at Kew.\u00a0 She also drew from life many of the flowering plants and ferns before returning to England.\u00a0 Her efforts were praised in the 1914 Journal of the Linnean Society, \u201cfar as flowering plants and ferns are concerned, the flora of the Falkland Islands may now be said to be thoroughly known.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her drawings were also exhibited at a general meeting of the same society and received high praise.\u00a0 An example is this image of Rubus geoides<\/em>.\u00a0 Her intention was to publish an extensive book, but her health declined.\u00a0 She needed the help of her husband and Smith to publish a modest publication in 1921 titled \u201cIllustrations of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Falkland Islands.\u201d<\/p>\n The plant descriptions in this book were written by Enid Mary Cotton (1889-1956), another botanist associated with Kew.\u00a0 Like the issues of \u201cCurtis\u2019s Botanical Magazine\u201d published at the time, the 64 illustrations were hand-colored lithographs, even though for most publications that technique had been replaced by color printing fifty years earlier.<\/p>\n Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on November 21, 2023<\/p>\n Excerpted from the Winter 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas, are an isolated archipelago east of South America in the south Atlantic Ocean.\u00a0 Uninhabited when discovered by European powers in the 1600s, dispute over its control has continued for centuries, including a deadly war between Argentina and Britain as recently as 1982.\u00a0 The flora is quite isolated, too, with no native trees, and the largest shrubs only reaching seven feet tall. Elinor Frances Vallentin (1873-1924) was born on West Falkland Island when it was…<\/p>\n