Orange Bigarrade Violette - Botanical poster 50x70cm

Citrus aurantium var. violacea - Purple Bitter Orange

In June, the purple bitter orange offers an astonishing spectacle: red and green shoots emerge side by side, bearing red flowers on the former and white flowers on the latter.

This botanical singularity, already noted in Paris in 1810, perplexed naturalists of the time. Parisian gardeners called it "hermaphrodite," an inaccurate term since all orange trees are, but one that testifies to their fascination with this variety with such contrasting manifestations.

This bitter orange displays the characteristic habit of its family, but its foliage stands out with a more intense green. All its petioles are winged.

In spring, the shrub adorns itself with a bouquet where shoots and flowers of both colors intertwine, without it being possible to predict their arrangement.

• The red flowers give rise to small purple fruits, slightly roughened and longitudinally striated, crowned with a discreet nipple. This purple hue is not original: the base of the skin sometimes remains greenish, and the fruit yellows upon maturity.
• The white flowers, meanwhile, produce very roughened yellow fruits, with thick skin, divided into eight locules containing little acidic water. Poiteau never observed seeds in them.

Of unknown origin, this bitter orange was introduced from Paris to Liguria and Nice in the early 19th century, where it thrived in more temperate climates.

This plate is taken from Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean François Turpin's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers, a fruit encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, a major reference in 19th-century naturalistic illustration.

It combines the rigor of scientific drawing with a rare artistic sensibility, characteristic of the great plates from the golden age of illustrated botany.

• Each poster is printed with 12-color giclée printing, the benchmark for art workshops for rendering fine tones, subtle gradients, and the most delicate botanical details.
• Weight 200 g/m², soft matte finish, thickness 0.26 mm: a result close to the original engraving, sharp, without glare, designed for hanging.
• Printed on FSC certified paper, printed individually to order.
• Shipped in a rigid protective tube.