To compete with the English and Dutch East India Companies, chartered in 1600 and 1602, the French created the Compagnie d'Orient in 1642 and established a colony at Fort Dauphin shortly thereafter. Beset by disease, debt, conflict with the native population, and a series of mutinies, the colony would last only thirty years before being abandoned. In order to drum up support for the struggling colony at home, Flacourt published his Histoire de la grande isle de Madagascar in 1658 and reissued it with additional material in 1661. The book describes, among other things, the flora of the island. For those of us interested in carnivorous plants, there's one plant in particular that catches the eye: anramitaco
"Anramitaco is a plant [...] that carries at the end of its leaves [...] a hollow flower or fruit like a small vase, which has a lid. This is a wonderful sight. There are red ones and yellow ones, the yellow ones being the largest." He notes that the little "flowers" contain water, and recounts a local superstition that it would not rain if one picked the "flower." Given this description, the anramitaco is none other than Nepenthes madagascariensis, one of only two species of Nepenthes endemic to Madagascar and widespread in the area around Tôlanaro.
The illustration (numbered 43) is very likely the first European illustration of a Nepenthes. I don't know if Flacourt preserved a specimen or not (probably not), but we do know that at least one plant, a Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), made it back to France and was later integrated into Sébastien Vaillant's herbarium, which still exists.
N. madagascariensis isn't the showiest Nepenthes, but it is one I'd love to grow for its botanical history alone. Unfortunately, this one is a lowlander and likes it hot and humid, so it would not last long in my conditions.
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