Flora sinensis : fructus floresque humillime porrigens serenissiomo et potentissimo Leopoldo Ignatio, Hungariae regi florentissimo, &c. Fructus saecul promittenti Augustissimos
Flora sinensis is a 1656 Latin botanical book printed in Vienna by Michel Boym, a Jesuit missionary, dedicated to the Habsburg emperor's young son Leopold Ignatius. Its hand-coloured plates show Chinese trees and fruits, each labelled with Chinese characters and Latin or Portuguese names. A designer might take its flat, schematic arrangement of a tree with separate fruit and leaf studies beside it, and its bright, slightly naive colour.
