Boym spent about ten years in China, converting the family of the last Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to Christianity and acting as the Emperor's (unsuccessful) envoy when he returned to Europe in the early 1650s seeking western help to repel the (successful) Manchu uprising.
Boym was an astute scholar and made significant contributions to the foundation of Sinology in terms of language, medicine/pharmacy, cartography and, of course, botany. His correspondence, verbal reports and various publications
I'm unsure how a hippopotamus came to be included in a work on China and I wouldn't be surprised to learn of some other visual incongruities. The text itself was more illuminating, particularly in advising of the pharmaceutical and health benefits of Chinese plants. The final illustration was among the first depictions of the Nestorian stele, which had been discovered earlier in the 17th century and provided evidence of Assyrian Christians having settled in China as early as the 8th century [see last month's post featuring some illustrations and a little more information about Nestorians - and hats off to Dr Hypercube for mentioning the stele in the comments].
- 'Flora Sinensis' is online at Bibliothèque Universtaire Moretus Plantin --- it's a turn-the-pages flash arrangement.
- All (23) of the illustrations from 'Flora Sinensis' were spliced together from screen captures and uploaded to Wikimedia.
- Michael Boym at Wikipedia.
- There is a little bit about 'Flora Sinensis' at this Schierenberg bookseller page (near the top) - but the whole webpage is worth scanning in any event.
- Harold Fischer have an html version of the book available (click 'Preview') - it's ok for a quick look at the layout but the image quality is not the best.