MANYPEEPLIA UPSIDOWNIA.

MANYPEEPLIA UPSIDOWNIA. Years ago I saw—and was delighted by—Edward Lear’s drawing of the plant species manypeeplia upsidownia at an exhibit at Harvard. Now, Harvard Magazine (July-August, 2012) has an article by Christopher Reed on an exhibit at the Houghton Library devoted to “The Natural History of Edward Lear.” The article features the drawing of manypeeplia upsidownia. Although Lear is better known for his limericks and light verse like The Owl and the Pussycat, Reed quotes Robert McCracken Peck, the curator of the exhibit: “Edward Lear is revered in scientific circles as one of the greatest natural history painters of all time.”