Avinoff Botanical Prints

A selection of fine art prints from the exquisite watercolor depictions of Western Pennsylvania wildflowers, hand-painted by former museum director, Andrey Avinoff.

Andrey Avinoff served as Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History from 1926-1946. Avinoff illustrated over 200 wild flowers from Western Pennsylvania and the Upper Ohio Basin. These images record the happy collaboration of artist and scientist, with Avnioff working closely with Otto E. Jennings, a botanist and friend. 

• Plate 8
  ZEBRA-STRIPED JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT (Arisaema atrorubens f. Zebrinum)
  The hood or spathe of the common jack-in-the-pulpit varies considerably in its color pattern. The specimen here illustrated from two different angles is the Zebra-striped form, quite common in our moist woodlands. Another form has a solid green spathe, but the one considered most typical of the species has a purple spathe. In the detailed figures at the lower left side of the plate, one shows the spathe split open, exposing a pistillate spadix; the other shows a staminate spadix.
  
  The plants illustrated were collected by O. E. Jennings on a rich, wooded hillside near Saltsburg, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1942.
  
  
• Plate 18
  AMERICAN TURKS-CAP LILY (Lilium superbum)
  The Turk’s-cap lily may not have the charm of our redwood lily, but its stately bearing and its abundance of purple-flecked, orange-red flowers with their artistically reflexed sepals make it a general favorite, whether in its natural habitat in neglected lowland meadows or in planted gardens. Along the banks of wandering brooks or in open bottom lands it often occurs by the dozens, or even by the hundreds—a truly inspiring spectacle. The small figures illustrate anthers discharging pollen and one empty anther.
  
  The unusual sparsely red-flowered specimen used for the painting was collected by Ottmar F. von Fuehrer near Butler, Butler County, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1941.
  
  
• Plate 28
  ILL-SCENTED WAKE ROBIN (Trillium erectum)
  The ill-scented wake robin, or ill-scented trillium, although widely distributed through our region, seems to prefer the loose unstable soils of steep ravine slopes. There are various color forms and various combinations of color. The darker-colored forms have a disagreeable odor, and this trillium is sometimes called the “wet-dog” trillium.
  
  All the specimens illustrated were collected by O. E. Jennings. The white-flowered and the larger red-flowered specimens were collected at Renfrew Butler County, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1942; the others, of red, yellow, and intermediate colors, were from Pymatuning Swamp, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1942.
• Plate 37
  SHOWY LADY’S SLIPPER (Cypripedium reginae)
  This is the largest and by far the showiest of the native orchids in our region. It is a plant of surpassing beauty, now very rare, and to be found in a very few spots only in the northern part of our territory. Finding this orchid is a never-to-be-forgotten experience for the hardy soul who braves the muck and water, the mosquitoes, and the poison sumac of its haunts.
  
  The specimens used for the watercolor were collected by O. E. and Grace K. Jennings at the edge of Pymatuning Swamp, a few miles west of Linesville. Crawford County, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1942.
  
  
• Plate 75
  SWAMP SAXIFRAGE (Saxifraga pensylvanica)
  In swamps and bogs in the mountain and plateau uplands, and still more commonly in the northwestern glaciated part of our region, the somewhat yellowish or greenish flowering stems of this plant often reach a height of four feet or more. It is the tallest of the herbaceous members of the saxifrage family in our area. The petals of the swamp saxifrage vary in color: they are often greenish yellow, but the plant depicted here has reddish-purple petals and is the form called purpuripetala (A. M. Johnson) House.
  
  The plate was painted from a specimen collected by O. E. Jennings in a boggy ditch at Linesville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1942.
  
  
• Plate 89
  REDBUD (Cercis canadensis)
  Amidst the sunshine and showers of April the redbud bursts out with profuse clusters of rosy-pink to pinkish-purple pealike flowers. These flowers explain the inclusion of the small, round-headed tree in the pea family. The flower clusters appear on last year’s branches before the current season’s twigs have put forth their peculiar, rounded, heart-shaped leaves. The redbud often grows in zones or patches along hillsides and ravine slopes, and indicates the presence of a limestone outcrop.
  
  The specimen was collected by O. E. Jennings from a rich wooded hillside near Riverview, Washington County, Pennsylvania, April 18, 1942.
  
  
• Plate 106
  COW-PARSNIP (Heracleum maximum)
  A giant among our herbaceous flowering plants, the cow-parsnip towers above its competitors to a height of often six feet or more on the wet bottom land along a creek. At the height of its flowering season, about the first week in June, the whole compound cluster of small white flowers (as shown on the plate) spreads out horizontally to form a flat compound umbel often a foot or more wide. Where the plants abound, and in early June, this member of the parsley family is the most conspicuous lowland wild flower of our region.
  
  The painting was made from a plant collected by O. E. Jennings along a stream at Distillery (now New Eagle), Washington County, Pennsylvania, June 3, 1942.
  
  
• Plate 136
  PURPLE-BERGAMOT (Monarda media)
  The deep purple-red or crimson flowers of this plant vie with the striking brilliancy of the cardinal flower where purple-bergamot grows against a dark thickety background, among alders or along the weedy border of some rivulet, its flower heads glow with a startling effect. The detailed figure shows the spreading calyx teeth and the corolla with
  its very slender tube, widely two-lipped mouth, the projecting stamens, and forked style.
  
  The plant illustrated was collected by O. E. Jennings in a thickety border along a rivulet at Kennedy Mill, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1941.
  
  
• Plate 192
  FRAGRANT THISTLE (Cirsium pumilum)
  The name fragrant thistle for this plant is well deserved although it often is called the pasture thistle or bull thistle. The beautiful flower heads, the largest of any of our thistles, are often three inches broad, and are very sweet-scented. Bumblebees and butterflies feast on their nectar. This striking plant does not occur Southwest of the Pittsburgh district, but eastward it is frequent on hillside and upland fields.
  
  The specimen was collected by O. E. Jennings in an open shaly field far up on the slope of Chestnut Ridge at the R. K. Mellon estate, Rachelwood, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, July 13, 1941.

Created by our in-house design team using imagery and inspiration from our collection.

Each image measures 8x10 and is printed on acid-free paper.