Halia Bara, which is also known by its scientific name of Zingiber officinale var. rubrum, belongs to the Ginger family. Halia Padi is bitter and is used medicinally. This painting can be found in the first volume of the the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings. 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.
