This painting of Taro, which is also known by its scientific name of Arum esculentum, can be found in the first volume of the the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings. The Malay inscription on this drawing means 'the taro, scattered all over the world'. The collection consists of 477 watercolours of flora and fauna that had been painted for William Farquhar when he was the Resident of Malacca between 1803 and 1818, before he took up the post of the first Resident of Singapore from 1819 to 1823.
