Giclee reprint of an original lithograph from from Volume V of Jan Kops’ Flora Batava, published in 1828 in Amsterdam.

Launched in 1800 by agricultural commissioner Jan Kops and publisher Jan Christiaan Sepp, this monumental work was the very first comprehensive, illustrated inventory of wild plants, mosses, mushrooms, and algae native to the Netherlands. It holds the record as one of the longest-running serial publications in Dutch history, spanning 134 years across 28 volumes and 461 individual installments. It concluded its epic run in 1934.

Kops famously insisted that every illustration be rendered from live specimens collected entirely from Dutch soil. This meticulous approach required a rotating army of local botanical artists, engravers, and hand-colorists over more than a century.

Onopordum acanthium is heavily blanketed in a web of dense, white, woolly hairs that cover both its massive stalks and leaves. This specialized feature helps the plant conserve moisture in dry environments and gives the entire thistle a distinctive, frosted gray-green appearance. It is a true giant among wild herbaceous flora. As a biennial plant, it spends its first year as a low-growing rosette, but in its second spring, it rapidly shoots upward, reaching towering heights of up to 3 meters.