John Templeton (1766-1825)
Orobanche rubra, c.1810
Watercolour and pencil on paper
Courtesy of Board of Trustees of National Museums Northern Ireland
Templeton was one of the earliest Irish botanists and a founder member of the Belfast Natural History Society. This drawing is an illustration for his unpublished manuscript Flora Hibernica. It depicts thyme broomrape, which Templeton was the first to discover in Ireland. He found it at the rocks of Cave Hill near Belfast where it still grows today.
