E. W. HUNNYBUN 
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It is with great regret that we record the death of Mr E. W. Hunnybun which occurred on July 3, 
1918. The publication of the Cambridge British Flora would probably not have been undertaken had 
it not been for the generosity of Mr Hunnybun who presented his collection of drawings to the 
University. 
He began to draw British plants long before the Flora was planned. The delineation of living 
specimens appealed to his love for plant-form and was a recreation from his occupation as a solicitor 
peculiarly suited to his temperament: but it must have required a great effort on. the part of anyone 
approaching retirement to undertake the completion of drawings of the whole British Flora, and it was 
v owing to his unfailing industry and interest in the work that the task was completed. While still 
g following his profession he often rose at daybreak and spent two to three hours or more before break- 
fast collecting or drawing. After he had retired, bad health often made complete rest necessary and 
obliged him to rely to an increasing extent upon specimens sent to him by correspondents. He not 
only constantly added new illustrations, but he was ever on the watch to replace or complete some of 
the earlier drawings. It is fortunate that at the end there remained undrawn only a few rarities which 
he had been unable to obtain. 
An excellent observer, he became increasingly careful to ascertain the diagnostic features of each 
plant drawn, and where necessary to obtain critical plants or determinations from British authorities. 
He undoubtedly had a natural genius for accurate line drawing which developed with practice until it 
became an easy matter for him to transfer the sweeping lines of the living plant directly to paper. 
The natural result was a singularly accurate picture of each specimen, free from such errors as arise 
either from mingling the characters of different plants or from adding imagined features to dried 
specimens. Herbarium material he steadily refused to use : his purpose was the portrayal of actual 
living individual plants. He had no desire to represent any such intellectual concept as a “species” 
although in gathering he naturally selected a typical representative after studying a considerable 
number. This ultimate limitation of the portraiture to a single specimen resulted in a corresponding 
gain of that permanent truth of observation which was to him the first requirement. Realising that 
only in this way could absolute accuracy be approached he used to say “ I only draw what I see,” and 
the result justified his method. This power of discrimination and accurate observation is shown in the 
fact that a drawing of a Glasswort made in 1906 was published five years later when Salicornia 
disarticulata was first described as a species new to science. There is no need to add more about his 
work ; it speaks for itself and remains a fitting monument of his quiet industry and care. 
1 
hS 
June 16, 1919. 
A. J. WILMOTT. 
