On September 15, 1992, Vatican City issued a series of six stamps titled "Plants of the New World." The six stamps have different subjects but the same value of 850-lire. Printed together in the same sheet, each sheet consists of four complete series of six different stamps. Helio Courvoisier S.A. of Switzerland printed 450,000 series.
The illustrations feature reproductions of original color prints of various plants from the Americas. Artists replicated the images from the "Phytanthoza Iconographia," printed in Ratisbon, Germany, between 1737 and 1745, which is the property of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. To the left or right of each illustration appears the Latin botanical name of the plant depicted:
-Frumentum indicum (corn)
-Solanum pomiferum (tomato)
-Opuntia (cactus)
-Cacaos cacavifera (cacao)
-Solanum tuberosum, capsium, mordens (peppers)
-Ananas sagilae folio (pineapple)
The value appears in each stamp's upper left corner. At the bottom appear the Papal Tiara, Crossed Keys, and the words POSTE VATICANE.
The stamps are vertical in format, measure 28 x 41.10 mm, and have a perforation of 11 1/2 x 11 3/4. Helio Courvoisier S.A. printed them on white chalky paper in multicolor rotogravure. They were issued in sheets of twenty-four.
Crimando, Thomas I. "New Issues." Vatican Notes 41, no. 4 (January 1993): 4.
