Euphorbia milii. The crown of thorns (or christ plant) is a species of spurge native to Madagascar. It takes its name from the thorny stems and small crimson florets. Augusta Innes Withers (1793~1877): Augusta Baker, a clergyman's daughter, lived and worked in London all her life. She married an accountant, Theodore Withers, 20 years her senior, and gave lessons in flower painting. She became Flower Painter in Ordinary to Queen Adelaide. During the 1830s and 40s, she drew for books and magazines such as Lindley's Pomological Magazine, Curtis's Botanical Magazine, and Transactions of the Horticultural Society. At one time, she applied to JD Hooker at the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew for the post of Botanical Flower Painter, but she was rejected. Her most famous illustrations were the orchid paintings in James Bateman's Orchidacae of Mexico and Guatemala (1837~41).. Benjamin Maund's The Botanist was a five-volume series that introduced 250 new plants from 1836 to 1842. The series is not