Company School
Dhool Kulmee [Clove Bean Calonyction Muricatum Ipomoea Muricata Purple Moonflower]
Watercolor on paper watermarked ‘J. Whatman’
Titled in English and Urdu
Paper size: 20 1/2 x 14 1/2 in.
Framed size:29 1/4 x 23 in.

The Ipomoea muricata is also known as clove bean, and it is a vegetable with curative properties in India and surrounding regions. It is unusual in that it is a nocturnal bloomer.

This magnificent blossom, found in thickets and flood plains, has a dark purple eye from which paler tones of purple and pink radiate. According to an 1841 catalogue of plants in the East Indian gardens, this plant was common to: “[India] peninsula, along the Ganges, from Behar and Tirhoot  up to Cawnpore, Lucknow,  Deyra Dhoon... large pale rose-coloured , with a dark purple eye .... used for culinary purposes” (Hortus Suburaanus Calcuttensis: A Catalogue of the Plants which Have Been Cultivated in the East India Company’s Botanical Garden, Calcutta, and in the Serampore Botanical Garden from the Beginning of Both Establishments (1786 and 1800) to the End of August 1841, 355.)    

Today, this plant is also cultivated ornamentally around the world. In India, the seeds, fruits, and thickened pedicels are eaten as a vegetable. In China, the leaves are used in treating stomach aches, and the seeds for treating trauma.