'Tongkat Ali', or 'Ali's walking stick', is a supposed aphrodisiac that is in great demand. This painting of Tongkat Ali, which is also known by its scientific name of Eurycoma longifolia, 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.
