Monday 30 March 2009

Ageratina riparia



Ageratina riparia (Regel) R.M. King & H. Rob.
Phytologia 19(4): 216. 1970.

Sunday 29 March 2009

Adenocarpus anisochilus

Adenocarpus anisochilus Boiss.

Synonym:
Adenocarpus complicatus (L.)Gay Subsp. anisochilus (Boiss.)Franco

Another of Monserrate's "yellow brooms" recorded 2008

Cytisus striatus


Cytisus striatus Rothm.
Feddes Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis 53: 149. 1944.
Cytisus striatus is reported as common in Serra de Sintra, recorded Monserrate 2008
Other Cytisus recorded for Monserrate:
Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link
Herborized by Daveau on the Sintra Monserrate road (LISU: P 19 374, 19 377)
Cytisus trifolia, recorded Monserrate 1990 - unlisted name possibly a synonym for Laburnum

Ulex parviflorus


Ulex parviflorus Pourret
Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse 3: 334. 1788.
FABACEAE

Portuguese: Tojo

Rose at Monserrate









Here is a link to a discussion concerning this "Monserrate Rose"
In this interesting article the rose was tentatively identified by Jocelen Janon as Souvenir de Mme Leonie Viennot. Now that this rose is flowering again I am posting a few more photographs in the hope that this ID can be confirmed/re-examined.

I should be most grateful for further comments.
Gerald Luckhurst
Sintra, Portugal





Cinnamomum at Monserrate



Sorbus domestica


Sorbus domestica L.
Species Plantarum 1: 477. 1753.

Two wild trees growing above cascade at Monserrate just coming into leaf:

Saturday 28 March 2009

Cunninghamia lanceolata



Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook in Bot. Mag. 54: t.2743 (1827)
Pinus lanceolata lamb. (1803)
Cunninghamia sinensis R. Br. ex Rich., Mem Conif. 80 (1926)

Widely distributed in the mountain valleys of Central and Souuth China, originally discovered in the Island of Chusan in 1702; Introduced to Kew by William Kerr in 1804. E.H. Wilson found the tree in large forests at altitudes of 800-1300 m in Omei Shan, and it is also plentiful in Ichang and West Szechuan.

Manual of Cultivated Conifers: Hardy in the Cold-and Warm-temperate Zone
Pieter den Ouden, Boudewijn Karel Boom
Edition: 3, illustrated
Springer, 1982
Hooker's figure of female cones is not very accurate - it was based upon a drawing published by Achille Richard (Commentatio botanica de Conifereis et Cycadeis p. 80, pl. 18, f. 3. 1826. ). Hooker's plant flowered with male catkins in 1826-7 at Glasgow.

Cryptomeria japonica 'Elegans'


From Veitch's Manual of Coniferae

Dallimore & Jackson Handbook of Coniferae 3rd ed. 1948, p.255
CRYPTOMERIA Don
Cryptomeria japonica (L.f.) Don.
JAPANESE CEDAR
Goddess of Mercy Fir, Peacock Pine, Sugi

Cryptomeria Fortunei Hooibrenk; Cupressus japonica L.f.; Taxodium japonicum Brongiart.

Var. elegans (Henkel and Hochstetter) Masters
Cryptomeria elegans Veitch; Cryptomeria gracilis Hort.

A well-marked variety of bushy habit in which juvenile type of foliage is retained.
Introduced from Japan in 1861 by John Gould Veitch. It should be given a shelterted place as it is liable to be blown about badly during stormy weather.

Veitch's Manual of the Coniferae



A Manual of the Coniferae
James Veitch & Sons
Royal Exotic Nursery, 544, King's Road, Chelsea, S.W.
1881

Friday 27 March 2009

Cryptomeria japonica 'Lobbii'


Cryptomeria japonica 'Lobbi'
Cryptomeria japonica D. Don 'Lobbi' Veitch
Cryptomeria japonica D. Don forma lobbii [Carr.] Beissner
Walter Oates described this conifer that stood for many years at the top of the lawn next to the palacio: "C. japonica var. Lobbii stands in a good position at the top of the lawn and is very conspicuous." 1929
This is the pyramidal conifer that is seen in so many postcard views. Some descriptions erroneously describe this as Thuya plicata, a tree that would quickly have out grown this situation.
Description: Slower growing than the species and dense, more compact foliage. Stands all extremes of growing conditions but especially good in high rainfall areas that are well drained. Ideal for a large hedge or slow growing shelter belt. A conical, symmetrical tree. Very neat. 4.5 metres high x 2 metres wide in 10 years in our Nursery/Garden. Zone 5. http://www.conifers.co.nz/cryptomeria/cryptomeria.html

James Veitch A Manual of the Coniferae 1881, p. 219
Cryptomeria japonica Lobbi is more compact in habit than the tree above described [C. japonica] ; the branchlets are less pendulous, the foliage is of a brighter and deeper green, the leaves shorter, more pointed, and more closely adpressed to the branchlets. It was sent to us from the Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg, in Java, by Mr. Thomas Lobb in 1853.
p. 221 Seeds of the Japanese Cryptomeria were sent by Dr. Siebold to the Dutch Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg, in Java, so long ago as 1825, and one of the trees raised from this seed was the parent plant of those brought to us from the same garden in 1853, by Mr. Thomas Lobb, from which originated all those now cultivated under the nmae of Cryptomeria japonica Lobbi. It is therefore evident that the latter is the true C. japonica, although Siebold affirms that it differs from the Japanese type in its lighter green foliage, but this difference is too trifling to affect the main fact. It would be more correct nomenclature for the tree at present known in British gardens as C. japonica, to be called C. japonica Fortunei, and that known as C. japonica Lobbi, to be known as C. japonica. [...] In England the Cryptomeria has proved to be hardy, but good specimens are comparatively rare in this country, owing, probably, to climatal causes, the most potent being a less annual rainfall, and a lower average summer temperature than in Japan. It is only in deep rich soils, with an abundance of moisture, and protected from piercing winds, that the Cryptomeria develops the fine ornamental qualities it is seen to possess in its native country, and when planted in such spots, a clear space having a radius of not less than 15 feet should be allowed for it.

Crinum moorei



Crinum moorei Hook. f.
Botanical Magazine t. 6113. vol. c (1874)

Crinum Moorei was introduced into the Glasnevin Gardens in 1863, by a friend of Dr. Moore's, Mr. Webb, who had served on the commissariat staff of our army in South Africa, and had brought the seeds from the interior -- as Dr. Moore thinks -- of Natal.

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantcd/crinummoor.htm

Crinum moorei is found in large colonies in damp, marshy areas in the shade. Bulbs collected from Port St Johns by Dr L.E. Codd (Verdoorn 1961) were found on the margin of a patch of coastal forest in heavy black soil near water.

Crassula multicava

Crassula multicava Lem.
L'illustration horticole 9: misc. p.40. 1862.
Crassulaceae

Nous avons eu pour la première fois conaissance de cette belle et remarquable espèce en visitant (juin 1861) la riche collection de cactées et de plantes grasses de toutes espèces, cultivées chez M. François Cels, Chaussée de Maine (Petit-Mont-Rouge, Paris). En ce moment, 15 avril, elle est encore en fleurs, depuis la fin de dècembre dernier, haute à peine de vingt centimètres, sans la panicule. [...] Nous n'en conaissons ni la patrie, ni l'auteur de sa découverte ou de son introduction ; mais pouvons la recommander en conaissance de cause à tous les amateurs, à ceux même qui n'aimeraient les plantes dites grasses (et pourquoi?); elle est d'une croissance rapide; car l'individu en question, haut de 0,02 centim, au moment où nous l'avons planté à l'état de bouture, a, en six mois à peine, com nous venons de le dire, acquis les dimensions dites plus haut, et est encore en pleine floraison au moment où nous parlons.

C. multicava is a moderate to fast-growing, mat-forming, evergreen groundcover up to ± 300 mm, that produces an outstanding uniform effect when planted in masses. As with all members of the genus, the glossy, oval to round leaves are formed in opposite pairs. They are light to dark green depending on the position in the garden, darker in the shade and paler in semi-shade to sunny places. The flowers are petite, charming little stars hence the common name fairy crassula, and appear in masses above the attractive leaves. The leaves contain hydathodes (water secreting pores), which serve for rapid absorption of water from the leaf surface.

C. multicava occurs on forest margins, river and stream banks, and in coastal and subtropical thickets from Mpumulanga, Natal to the Eastern and s outhern Cape . Plants show a preference for well-composted, deep soils as well as clay soils and occur in partial shade. They are found in sheltered, frost-free areas.

... infusions of the plant are sprinkled around the homestead as a protective charm against lightning.
http://www.plantzafrica.com/

Forget-me-not



Myosotis latifolia Poiret
Lam. Encycl. Méth. Bot. 12: 45 (1812)

Listed in Flora de Portugal (Franco) as occuring at Sintra

Corynocarpus laevigatus


Curtis's Botanical Magazine
William Jackson Hooker,
vol 74, Nº 4379 (1848)
A native of New Zealand, drawn from a specimen sent by the late Mrs. Sherbourne, from her collection at Hurst House, Lancashire, and the only one we have seen; so that in the absence of fruit, we can only speak, as Mr. Allan Cunningham and others have done, doubtfully, as to its place in the Natural System. The position of the seed alone would militate against its being one of the Myrsinacea, and there is a something in the structure of its flowers indicating an affinity very different from that family. Although the blossoms have little to recommend them, the plant itself "forms a tree," says Mr. Cunningham, " Karaka of the natives, upon which the eye of the traveller rests with pleasure, by reason of its rich dark glossy leaves and highly ornamental growth; and it furnishes a plum-like fruit, of which the drupaceous coat, when fully ripe of a sweetish taste, is eaten by the natives. The nut or kernel also, upon being deprived (by steaming and maceration in salt water) of the poisonous property it is said to possess, is held in considerable estimation by the New Zealanders, who collect and use it for food, in seasons of dearth. If eaten without this necessary preparation, the person becomes seized with severe spasmodic pains and convulsions; from which the sufferer, in some cases, does not recover, but has been observed to die in great agony in a few hours. The timber is not used for any other purpose than as fire-wood, being of short fibre and very soft." It is a green-house plant, and flowers in May.



Corynocarpus laevigata
J. R. & G. Forster
Prodr. n. 114 Char. Gen. Pl. 16. 1775
Corynocarpaceae

Synonym
Merretia lucida Sol MSS. in Bibl. Banks

Thursday 26 March 2009

Cortaderia selloana


From Paxton's Flower garden, 1851

Cortaderia selloana (Schult. & Schult. f.) Asch. & Graebn.

Arundo dioeca Spreng., nom illeg., non Arundo dioica Lour.,
Arundo selloana (Schult. & Schult. f.) Asch. & Graebner
Gynerium argenteum Nees.

Named for the German gardener Friedrich Sellow (Sello). 1789-1831 who died by drowning, botanical explorer, naturalist, plant collector in Brazil and Uruguay.

Temperate central South America, noxious weed invasive in many parts of the world.

Pampas Grass


The Floricultural Cabinet, and Florists Magazine (1851)
Notes on New or Rare Plants
Joseph Harrison
p. 27

Gynerium Argenteum ; (or, Arundo Dioica, or A. Selloana). The Pampas Grass of South America, where it inhabits the vast plains, and is said to grow ten yards high, and bear panicles of silky, silvery-white flowers two feet or more long.

It is a tall perennial plant in our own country and its fine plumes of flowers, borne by such a noble plant, renders it highly interesting and ornamental. It was introduced from South America by Mr. Moore, curator of the Botanic Garden, Dublin. The plant appears to be hardy in this country, flourishing in the garden of Robert Hutton, Esq., of Putney Park, near London. It is also in the Chiswick garden.


Paxton's Flower garden 1851
John Lindley, Joseph Paxton
Gleanings and Original Memoranda
p. 175-6

231. Gynerium Argenteum. Nees, (aliàs Arundo dioica Sprengel; aliàs Arundo Selloana Schultes.) A tall reedy perennial, with harsh serrated leaves, and large erect silky plumes of flowers. Belongs to Grasses. Native of Brazil and Montevideo. (Fig. III.)

This noble plant, now called the Pampas Grass, in consequence of its inhabiting the vast plains of S. America so named, has been introduced within a few years through Mr. Moore, of the Glasnevin Botanic Garden. Although but a Grass it will probably form one of the most useful objects of garden decoration obtained for many years. In stature it rivals the Bamboo, being described as growing in its native plains several times as high as a man. The leaves are hard, wiry, very rough at the edge, not half an inch broad at the widest part, of a dull grey green colour, much paler below. They are edged by sharp points or teeth, little less hard than the teeth of a file. The flowers appear in panicles from one and a half to two and a half feet long, resembling those of the common reed, but of a silvery whiteness, owing to their being covered with very long colourless hairs, and themselves consisting of colourless membranous glumes and pales.

According to Prof. Kunth this species is an Arundo. But to us it appears quite as different from that genus as from Gynerium. And although it is by no means one of the same genus as G. saccharoides, yet it may as well preserve its common name, faulty though it be, as be transferred to Arundo, from which it must be expelled. The inflexed hook of its pales is extremely remarkable, and, together with its dioecious character, leads to the inference that it may be a genus distinct from either.

The plant appears to be hardy. The annexed sketch was made in the garden of Robert Hutton, Esq., of Putney Park ; the species exists also in that of the Horticultural Society, to which it was presented by the Botanic Garden, Glasnevin.


Given the similarity between these two notices it is difficult to know which is an original memorandum and which a "gleaning"!"

Honesty


Carl Axel Magnus Lindman: Bilder ur Nordens Flora

Lunaria annua L.
Species Plantarum 2: 653. 1753.

BRASSICACEAE

Rhaphiolepis umbellata


Crataegus indica
Curtis's Botanical Magazine Vol 42 Nº 1726 (1815) *
INDIAN HAWTHORN
Rhaphiolepis umbellata (Thunb.) Makino
Botanical Magazine [Tokyo] 16(179): 13-14. 1902.
ROSACEAE


Basionym:
Laurus umbellata Thunb. Systemat Vegetabilium. Editio decima quarta 384. 1784.

Synonyms:
Laurus umbellata Thunb.
Mespilus sieboldii Blume
Opa japonica Seem.
Rhaphiolepis indica fo. umbellata (Thunb.) Hatus.
Rhaphiolepis indica var. umbellata (Thunb.) H. Ohashi
Rhaphiolepis japonica var. integerrima Hook. f.
Rhaphiolepis ovata Briot
Rhaphiolepis umbellata fo. integerrima Rehder
Rhaphiolepis umbellata fo. ovata (Briot) C.K. Schneid.

* Native of the East Indies and China. Requires the protection of the greenhouse. Our drawing was made from a plant communicated by Mr. R. Sweet, from the Stockwell Nursery. We received it also from Mr. James Dickson, of Acre Lane. Flowers in April, May, and June.

Plants at Monserrate have ovate leaves and can be attributed to forma ovata:
Rhaphiolepis umbellata fo. ovata
(Briot) C.K. Schneid.
Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. 1: 706

Raphiolepsis japonica integerrima

Curtis's Botanical magazine vol. 91 nº 5510 (1865)

A remarkably pretty plant, with thick, evergreen, shining leaves, and large, white odorous flowers. We first received it at the Royal gardens from Berlin, in 1862, and more recently from other quaters. Its native countries are Japan, Bonin, and the korean Islands. Though variable in habit, stature and foliage, it may always be distinguished from its near ally, the Chinese R. Indica, by the much larger flowers and broad obtuse bracts.

Raphiolepis Japonica, Sieb. et Zucc.; var. integerrima

Japanese Rhapiolepis, entire-leaved variety

Raphiolepis Japonica Sieb. et Zucc. Fl. Japon. v.2 p.35

Raphiolepis integerrima Hook et Arn. Bot Beech. Voy. 263

Wednesday 25 March 2009

Ageratina adenophora


Ageratina adenophora (Spreng.) R.M. King & H. Rob.
Phytologia 19(4): 211. 1970.

Ageratina Spach
Asteraceae Bercht. & J. Presl

Basionym : Eupatorium adenophorum Spreng.

Synonyms:
Ageratina trapezoidea (Kunth) R. M. King & H. Rob.
Eupatorium adenophorum Spreng. (basionym)
Eupatorium glandulosum Michx.
Eupatorium trapezoideum Kunth

Found throughout Monserrate as invasive plant. In Madeira this plant is so widespread that it is known as "Abundância". Originally from Central America

Trachystemon orientalis


Borago orientalis L.
Annales de la Société royale d’Agriculture et de Botanique de Gand, Journal d’horticulture
Charles Morren (editor).
Gand, 1845, volume 1, plate 25.
Royal Agricultural and Botanical Society of Gent, Started and edited by Charles Morren at the same time as the more successful competitor Flore des serres et des jardins de l’Europe of the nurseryman Louis van Houtte.

Trachystemon orientalis (L.) G. Don. fil.
Gen. Syst. 4: 309 (1837)
BORAGINACEAE

Habitat: forests; upper mountain belt Northern Caucasus; Transcaucasus: Georgia, shore of the Black Sea. Rare. Shady places. E. Bulgaria, Turkey-in-Europe, N. Anatolia, W. Caucasus.

Synonyms:
Borago orientalis L.
Psilostemon orientalis D.C.
Borago orientalis Mill. in dict. ed. 8 n.2
Sydenham Teast Edwards
The Botanical register consisting of coloured figures of exotic plants cultivated in British gardens with their history and mode of treatment
Nº 288 Vol. IV (1818)
John Lindley: "[Borago = Trachystemon] Orientalis is found wild in Turkey; was received by Miller from the Botanic Garden at Paris, and cultivated at Chelsea in 1752. Flowering here in the open ground as early as March, the blossom is very liable to be defaced by the cold winds of that month, and is not often seen in perfection with us. Miller recommends the planting of it in old rubbish or on walls, where it grows less rankly, and is of course not so subject to be injured by the effects of early frosts, which sometimes destroy it in other situations.
The drawing was taken at the nursery of Messrs. Whitley and Co. Fulham. "

Dombeya × cayeuxii


Dombeya × cayeuxii André
Rev. Hort. (Paris) 69:845. 1897

Family: Malvaceae subfamily: Dombeyoideae. Also placed in: Sterculiaceae

Usually described erroneously as D. burgessiae × D. wallichii, Cayeux states quite clearly that the parentage is D. mastersii × D. wallichii.

Cet hybride est beaucoup plus rustique que le Dombeya Wallichii et il parait un intermediaire parfait entre les deux parents [Cayeux]


Astrapea Wallichii
Collectanea Botanica, or, Figures and Botanical Illustrations of Rare and Curious Exotic Plants Chiefly Cultivated in the Gardens of Great Britain John Lindley

Dombeya Wallichii. Up to 30 ft. h. l. large cordate, angularly lobed, stipules leafy, ovate, slender-pointed. fl. scarlet in drooping umbels; peduncles long hairy. Introduced 1820. Syn. Astrapea Wallichii. [Description from Chittenden 1951]


Dombeya mastersii
Bot Mag 5639

D. Mastersii l. cordate-ovate, toothed, velvety. fl. white with slight rose tinge, sweet scented, in axillary corymbs. trp. Africa. 1867. BM 5639. [Chittenden 1951]

Dombeya x cayeuxii (D. Mastersii x D. Wallichii). Stems bristly hairy. l. cordate, acute, toothed, dark green, netted; stalks 4 to 6 in. long. fl. pink, finely veined, in axillary, pendent, many fld. umbels. 1897. The first hybrid Dombeya raised.[Chittenden 1951]

Photographs on the web seem to be all D. x cayeuxii. It would be interesting to discover if the true D. wallichii is still in cultivation. Chittenden follows description below in ascribing the cross as Mastersii x Wallichii.

DOMBEYA CAYEUXII Le climat de Lisbonne se prête, mieux que tout autre, à l acclimatation d'un certain nombre de plantes tropicales. Les Palmiers, par exemple, s'y développent tout aussi bien, pour ne pas dire mieux, que sous le climat de Nice ou Cannes. C'est ainsi que certains Areca et Kentia y mûrissent parfaitement leurs fruits. Grace à la clémence de ciel en ce pays où le thermomètre ne descend jamais au-dessous de zéro, il nous a été donné de faire des essais sur différents genres, qui, croyons nous n'ont jamais prospéré, en plein air dans les jardins européens.

Parmi ceux-ci, un des plus intéressants, tant au point dé vue du feuillage qu'à celui de la beauté des fleurs, est certainement le genre Dombeya.

Originaire de l'Afrique australe, de Madagascar et aussi de l'Inde, le genre Dombeya comprend environ une trentaine d'espèces, depuis qu'on a joint le genre Astrapœa; il appartient à la famille des Bythnériacées. L'espèce la plus anciennement cultivée en Europe est, très probablement, le Dombeya (Astrapœa) Wallichii de Lindley qui, d'après le Botanical Magazine aurait été introduite de Calcutta aux jardins royaux de Kew, par le Dr. Wallich, origine e douteuse, mais il y tout lieu de croire qu'elle habite l'ile de Madagascar. Sa première floraison en Europe aurait eu lieu au Jardin de La Société d'Horticulture, à Chiswick (Angleterre), en juin 1823.

Il ne s'agit donc pas d'une introduction récente, mais plutôt d'une de ces bonnes vieilles plantes si chères à M. Van den Heede, laquelle, sans beaucoup de soins, nous gratifie de ses gros bouquets de fleurs rouges suspendus à l'extrémité des rameaux par de longs pédoncules.

Une autre espèce, connue sous le nom de Dombeya (Astrapea) Mastersii Hook, fut découverte, en abyssinie, vers 1862, par le capitaine Grant et fleurit également, pour la première fois en Europe, aux Jardins royaux de Kew, en 1867. Elle differe surtout du D. wallichii, par sa floraison plus abondante, par ses feuilles d'un vert plus clair et surtout par ses nombreuses fleurs en bouquets, du blanc le plus pur. Elle est parfaitement rustique sous le climat de Lisbonne où elle se couvre de fleurs et fructifie, chaque année, en feverier, sans qu'il soit necessaire de l'arbriter.

Frappé par la beauté et la rusticité du D. mastersii, nous fécondions cette espèce, en 1895, par le D. wallichii que nous possédions également en fleurs dans les serres du Jardin botanique. Des graines semées, naquirent huit plantes, dont la plus forte, confiée à la pleine terre la même an- née, épanouit ses splendides bouquets de fleurs rose tendre, au printemps de 1896. Voici une description qui a été faite de la plante : « Arbrisseau de quelques mètres de hauteur, à tiges ligneuses, cylindriques, hispides dans le jeune age, comme les pétioles et les pédoncules, l'étiolés longs de 0m12 à 0m15 cylindriques, renflés à la base, accompagnés de deux stipules basilaires, triangulaires, aiguës, cuspidées, ondulées; limbe cordiforme aigu, vert foncé, bordé de grosses dents inégales et aiguës ; nervures saillantes réticulées en dessous, Inflorescence pendante, naissant à l'aisselle de feuilles supérieures. Pédoncule commun robuste, droit ou légèrement courbé, vert, hispide au sommet de même que les bractées involucrales étalées, qui sont vertes, puis rousses, peu nombreuses, lancéolées aiguës, concaves, longues de 0m.015 à 0m,020 sur 0m,005 à 0m,008 de large Inflorescence en corymbe simple, formé de trente à trente-cinq fleurs à pédicelles grêles, longs de 0m.020 à 0m,022, un peu courbés, vert très pâle comme les bractées et les sépales subégaux, longs de 0m.012 à 0m ,014 ; étroitement lancéolés aigus, velus, hérissés, argentés. Corolle en coupe ouverte, d'un beau rose tendre plus paie au centre, large de 0m.030 a 0m ,032 à pétales obliquement obcordés, non équitants, finement veinés, de l'aspect et de la consistance des pétales du Pêcher. »

L'hybride est parfaitement intermédiaire entre les deux parents, tout en ayant conservé la rusticité et la floribondité la plante-mère.



La fig. 8 représente notre plante livrée à la pleine terre en 1895. Elle atteint aujourd'hui environ 3 m ,50 de hauteur sur 2 m ,50 de large et forme une masse de verdure du plus bel effet; Elle est en outre chargée de 270 inflorescences qui ne tarderont pas à épanouir leurs nombreuses fleurs d un très joli rose tendre. L'abondance d'inflorescences est telle e nous avons pu en compter jusqu à douze sur une même ramification.

Le Dombeya Cayeuxii rustique à Lisbonne, ou le thermomètre a accusé une temperature minima de +1º,8 dans l'air et --- 4º,6 rez de terre, pendant l'hiver de 1896, le sera peut-être égalment sous le climat de Nice et de cannes, si on a le soin de le planter à bonne exposition bien abritée.

Dans tous les cas, il se recommande comme plante à très grand feuillage, à isoler sur les pelouses, à instar des Solanum, Nicotiana, Wigandia, etc. Cultivé en bonne terre fraiche, bien fumée, en serre tempérée ou planté en plein terre dans un jardin d'hiver, il récompense le cultivateur de ses soins par sa splendide floraison pendant l'hiver.

En sa qualité d'hybride, le D. Cayeuxii ne produit pas des graines ; mais on le multiplera avec facilité des boutoures demi ligneuses qui s'enracineront assez rapidement dans la bâche à multiplication.

H. CAYEUX

Le Jardin, douzième année (1898) p. 21-22

Oreopanax capitatus


Icones pictae plantarum rariorum descriptionibus
et observationibus illustratae
J.E. Smith, M.D. Fasc. 1-3.
Oreopanax capitatus (Jacq.) Decne. & Planch.,
Rev. Hort., IV, 3: 108 (1854).
ARALIACEAE Araliaceae Juss.

Basionym : Aralia capitata Jacq. Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum 18. 1760.

Other combinations for Aralia capitata Jacq.:
Botryodendrum capitatum (Jacq.) Endl. Catalogus horti academici vindobonensis 2: 177. 1842. (Cat. Horti Vindob.)
Sciodaphyllum capitatum (Jacq.) Griseb. Flora of the British West Indian Islands 1: 306. 1860. (Fl. Brit. W. I.)
Mesopanax capitatus (Jacq.) R. Vig. Annales des Sciences Naturelles; Botanique, série 9 4: 104. 1906. (Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot., sér. 9)
Hedera capitata (Jacq.) Sm. Icones pictae plantarum rariorum, ... 1: , t. 4. 1790. (Icon. Pict. Pl. Rar.)




Oreopanax capitatus (Jacq.) Decne. & Planch., Rev. Hort., IV, 3: 108 (1854).
Photographed at Jardim Tropical, Lisbon.

Listed at Monserrate in Trees of Monserrate, 1997.
Growing in Dr. Cargill's bed, next to Griselinia lucida.

Cinnamomum burmanii


From Jardim Tropical, Belem (Lisbon)
A candidate for the Monserrate Cinnamomum.

Acokanthera oppositifolia


Acokanthera oppositifolia (Lam.) Codd, Bothalia 7: 448 (1961).
APOCYNACEAE

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Cordyline indivisa


Cordyline indivisa Steud.
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, No.9096, Volume 151, 1926.

Sorting Cordylines

The botanists view:

Cordyline australis (G. Forst.) Endl.
SYNONYM(S) : Dracaena australis G. Forst.

That is straight forward enough. But what about:

Cordyline indivisa (G. Forst.) Steud.
SYNONYM(S) : Dracaena indivisa G. Forst., Terminalis indivisa (G. Forst.) Kuntze

Garden names:
The name Dracaena indivisa hort. was used almost exclusively in the nineteenth century (and even today) for Cordyline australis. This is from a website selling seeds of the true Cordyline indivisa :

Cordyline indivisa
Do not confuse this plant with the common Dracaena indivisa a.k.a. Cordyline australis of the plant trade. While the C. australis is commonly grown in mild temperate areas all over the world, the true C. indivisa is a rare and beautiful high altitude species from New Zealand. It is a tall and majestic plant with long leaves that can reach a width of more than 10 cm (4 in.), and in young plants are tinted yellow and orange. C. indivia prefers a moist, cool, even climate such as that of the Atlantic Coast in Europe or the Pacific Coast in the US and Canada.

It is unlikely that Cordyline indivisa was ever grown successfully at Monserrate despite the frequent references to Dracaena indivisa for example in 1885 & 1923.

However just in case here is the description:

Cordyline indivisa (G. Forst.) Steud.

Family: Laxmanniaceae. Also placed in: Agavaceae Asteliaceae Lomandraceae [GRIN Taxonomy for Plants] and of course old fashioned Liliaceae.

That's not very helpful, but reflects current flux and differences of opinion. The European Garden Flora places Cordyline in AGAVACEAE with the following comment: "A very troublesome family from the point of view of identification. Its separation from Liliaceae and the Amaryllidaceae is based, at least in part, on cytological, chemical and anatomical characters, and this makes a clear diagnosis of the family dificult to prepare." That was from my 1986 first edition and is by now itself quite old-fashioned. The family Laxmanniaceae is still not widely recognised, though New Zealand Botanists seem very keen, but then all the genera that are included within it are from the Pacific regions.

Asparagaceae seems to be the momentary consensus - Laxmanniaceae is admitted by APG II (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group; 2003) as an optional segregate from the family Asparagaceae.


Cordyline indivisa (G.Forst.) Endl., Ann. Wiener Mus. Naturgesch. 1: 162 (1836).

Family:
Asparagaceae

Acokanthera oblongifolia


Acokanthera spectabilis Benth. in Gen. Plant, vol II p. 696
Curtis's Botanical Magazine Vol CIV Nº 6359 (1878)

Acokanthera oblongifolia (Hochst.) Codd
Bothalia 7: 449. 1961
APOCYNACEAE

Basionym: Carissa oblongifolia Hochst. Flora 27(2): 827. 1844.

Synonym: Acokanthera spectabilis (Sond.) Hook. f.


FZ, Vol 7 Part 2 Author: A. J. M. Leeuwenberg and F. K. Kupicha et al.
Evergreen shrub or small tree up to 6 m. high. Young branches glabrous, conspicuously angled and ribbed. Leaves coriaceous, glabrous, smooth; petiole 4–9 mm. long; lamina 6–8·4 x 1·5–4·5 cm., ± elliptic, the apex obtuse to acute, mucronate, the base cuneate or rounded; upper surface glossy, with midrib shallowly impressed and lateral veins slightly raised but usually inconspicuous; lower surface mat, midrib and lateral veins raised but the latter inconspicuous; lateral veins looped to join their neighbours. Inflorescences dense contracted many-flowered axillary cymes; flowers fragrant, white tinged pink. Calyx c. 3 mm. long, lobes lanceolate, weakly imbricate, puberulous and ciliate. Corolla tube 14–20 mm. long, glabrous or pubescent on external surface, pilose within in upper half, faintly wrinkled below; corolla lobes broadly ovate with rounded apex, 3–7 mm. long, glabrous to pubescent, ciliate or not. Stamens inserted near the top of the corolla tube so that the anthers reach to within 1 mm. of the mouth and are not visible at anthesis; anthers 1·5–1·7 mm. long. Ovary c. 1 mm. long, cylindrical, longitudinally ribbed. Fruit 2–2·5 cm. long, ellipsoid or subglobose, purplish-black, 2(l)-seeded. Seeds up to 1·5 cm. long.



Aspecto general y detalle de flores y frutos
http://www.arbolesornamentales.com/


Tab. 6359
Acokanthera spectabilis
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine
May 1st 1878

Native of South Africa

Genus Acokanthera, Don; (Benth. Et Hook. F. Gen. Plant, vol. ii p. 696)

A. spectabilis
Toxicophlaea spectabilis, Sonder in Linnaea, vol. xxiii. P. 79;

The genus Acokanthera was founded by G. Don in the ‘Gardener’s Dictionary’ (vol. iv. P. 485) on Thunberg’s Cestrum veneatum (and other South African plants having no relation thereto), a native of Western South Africa. Subsequently, Harvey, overlooking Don’s genus, established Toxicophlaea on the same Cestrum venenatum, and his name is taken up by A. De Candolle in the Prodomus, and has consequently been current for that plant ever since ; subsequently, a congener was found in Abyssinia, the Carissa Schimperi, A.D.C. (C. Mepte Hochst., and Strychnos abyssinica, Hochst.), and finally the present plant was sent from South East Africa, and published as Toxicophlaea spectabilis by Sonder. The three known species are probably all of them very poisonous. A. veneata (Toxicophaea Thunbergii), Harvey, is the “Gift-boom,” or poison-tree of the Dutch and English colonists. According to Thunberg, a decoction of the bark reduced to a jelly was used by the Aborigines for poisoning their arrows ; and of the A. spectabilis, Mrs Barber writes that the seeds are intensely bitter, and the whole plant considered by the natives to be a deadly poisonous one. The genus is, as Mr. Dyer has remarked (Gard. Chron. l.c.), too closely allied to Carissa, differing chiefly, if not solely, in the want of thorns.

A. spectabilis is a native of the Western districts of South Africa, from Port Albany to Port Natal, where it forms a large shrub, with masses of white very fragrant flowers, on woody sand-hills near the sea. It was introduced by Mr. B S. Williams, and exhibited by him in 1872. Our specimen flowered at Kew in February of the present year.

DESCR. A large shrub, quite glabrous, except the inflorescence, which is slightly hairy or almost glabrous ; branches stout, green, obscurly angled. Leaves three to five inches long, narrowed into a very short thick petiole, coriaceous, elliptic- or oblong-lanceolate, acute, acuminate, or apiculate, shining above with very obscure spreading nerves, paler and opaque beneath. Flowers in dense fasiculated axillary branched short cymes, sometimes forming a globose head towards the top of the branch, pure white, very sweet scented ; peduncles and pedicels very short ; bracts minute, broadly ovate. Calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate, green, subacute, hairy. Corolla-tube three quarters of an inch long, slender, slightly enlarged upwards, sparsly hairy in the throat ; lobes spreading, ovate-oblong, acute. Stamens included, inserted near the mouth of the corolla, filaments very short ; anthers braodly ovate, with a pubescent terminal claw. Stigma conical, hairy, emarginate. Ovules attached towards the base of the septum. --- J. D. H.

Fig. 1, Flower ; 2 calyx ; 3, vertical, and 4, transverse section of ovary ; 5, top of style and stigma; 6, stamens : - all enlarged.

Monday 23 March 2009

Imantophyllum aitonii


Imantophyllum aitonii Hook.
Bot. Mag. 55: t. 2856. 1828

By perhaps not such an extraordinary coincidence two rival botanical magazines published different names for the same plant ON THE SAME DAY. Hooker's name Imantophyllum was for a long time preferred over Lindley's Clivia, which however eventually prevailed and gained precedence. Even so it was as Imantophyllum that these plants were first grown at Monserrate.

Hooker later wrote the following in a footnote:

It was unfortunate that that plate of I. Aitoni appeared on the same day on which the same plant was figured by Dr. Lindley in the ' Botanical Register' as Clivia nobilis. The name may, we think, thus with propriety be transferred to the present genus, a near ally of, but certainly distinct from, Clivia, Lindl.

This was in relation to Imantophyllum miniata, written in 1854, 26 years after the day on which both names had been published. Quite a grudge! Unfortunately for Hooker this new plant, was also later consigned to Lindley's genus and became Clivia miniata, the most widely grown and beautiful of these plants.

Clivia nobilis


Clivia nobilis Lindley
Botanical Register; consisting of coloured . . . 14: t. 1182. 1828.
Amaryllidaceae

This noble plant is supposed to have been one of the discoveries of Mr. Bowie at the Cape of Good Hope, from some of the inner districts of which colony it was probably procured. The plant from which our drawing was made, flowered for the second time in July last, in the princely Garden of his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, at Syon House, and was communicated to us by Mr. Forrest, to whom we are indebted for several observations upon its habit and characters.

At first sight it has so much the appearance of a Cyrtanthus that it may easily be mistaken for one, especially if the detached flowers only are seen. But upon a more minute examination, it will be found that it is not only not referable to that genus, but that it is actually doubtful whether it does not belong to a distinct natural order. In the 'first' place, it does not form a bulb, an almost indispensable character of Amaryllideae, from which there is but one other variation hitherto known, namely in Doryanthes. In the second place, the fruit is not a dehiscent dry capsule, but fleshy and indehiscent; and, thirdly, the seeds are not numerous, compressed, and membranous, but solitary, round, and fleshy. It is, therefore, obviously distinct from Cyrtanthus; and there is no other Amaryllideous genus to compare with it, except Eustephia, the fruit of which is still unknown, but which is peculiarly characterised by its 3-toothed filaments, and which is probably not far removed from Phycella. Perhaps the real affinity of this plant cannot at present be determined: to us it appears most closely allied to Haemanthus, the bulbs of which are very imperfect.

A greenhouse plant, not appearing to require particular care in its cultivation, and propagating either by seeds or suckers.

Roots fleshy, fascicled. Leaves distichous, coriaceous, dark green, strap-shaped, sheathing at the base, retuse and oblique at the apex, rough at the margin. Scape erect, plano-convex, bordered, furrowed towards the summit. Flowers from 48 to 50, on long stalks, pendulous, arranged in an umbel. Perianth tubular, clavate, deciduous; the segments yellowish scarlet, greenish at the apex, obtuse, imbricated in a double row, cohering towards the base, the outer rather shorter than the inner, like those of a Lachenalia. Stamens 6, inserted in the orifice of the tube, equal; filaments smooth; anthers small, oval, greenish yellow, versatile. Ovarium inferior, greenish yellow, 3-celled, many seeded, round, ventricose. Ovula numerous, inserted towards the base of the axis; style filiform; stigma somewhat 3-lobed. Fruit berried, indehiscent, red, generally, in consequence of the abortion of two cells and. most of the ovula, one-seeded, marked at the top by the scar of the fallen perianth. Seed single, ascending, (only seen unripe), very smooth, transparent, oval; hilum small, above the base; foramen in the base; raphe short, raised. Testa , when young, marked with very minute areolations; albumen abundant.

* We have named this genus in compliment to her Grace the Duchess of Northumberland, to whom we are greatly indebted for an opportunity of publishing it. Such a compliment has long been due to the noble family of Clive; and we are proud in having the honour of being the first to pay it.

Grevillea 'Sandra Gordon'




ORIGIN: Grevillea `Sandra Gordon' is said to be a hybrid between G. sessilis and G. pteridifolia. It occurred as a spontaneous seedling in about 1966 on Mr David Gordon's property, "Myall Park" at Glenmorgan, Queensland. It is said to be a very hardy and robust small tree. Cultivar received by the Authority 15 September 1976. Applicant: Mr D Gordon.
DESCRIPTION: The leaves are very deeply lobed and are about 200mm long by approximately 150mm wide. Individual lobes are very fine being 1.5-4m wide. Occasionally the lobes are sub-divided into two. The upper surface is shiny green whilst the underside is covered with silvery hairs. The leaf edges are rolled under. The flowers encircle the stem and are produced terminally. The rachis or stem on which the flowers are borne extends a short distance beyond the last floret as in G. sessilis. The bright yellow flower heads, which are produced in profusion over a long period, are about 120mm long by about 80mm wide. The very woolly perianth tube is about 8mm long. The styles, which are the colourful parts of the inflorescence, are about 30cm long.
DIAGNOSIS: This cultivar is different from its parents in that the foliage is intermediate with perhaps a greater affinity to G. pteridifolia. The habit also tends to be intermediate. The flower colour differs in that it is lighter than is usually seen in G. pteridifolia and a much richer colour than is usual for G. sessilis. The flowers encircle the rachis as in G. sessilis but not in G. pteridifolia.
COLOUR CODING: RHS Colour Chart 1966 edition.
perianth tube and limb: near yellow-orange 16d.
style: yellow-orange 15A.
ACRA REFERENCES: ACC114; CBG068686/8701102.

Sunday 22 March 2009

Clivia miniata


Amaryllidaceae - Clivia miniata Madame Le Grelle d’Hanis
Revue de l’horticulture belge et étrangère , Frédéric Burvenich, Édouard Pynaert, Émile Rodigas, August van Geert & Hubret J. van Hulle (editors).Gand [Gent], Bureaux de la Revue, 1881, volume 7, plate 1. Chromolithograph



Imantophyllum miniatum (Lindl.) Hook., Bot. Mag. 80: t. 4783 (1854).

IMANTOPHYLLUM ? MINIATUM
VALLOTA MINIATA ? Lindl. in Gardener's Chron. 1854, p. 119; and at p. 149, observations by Mr. Backhouse.
A flowering specimen of this fine Amaryllidaceous plant was exhibited at a meeting of the Horticultural Society in February of the present year ; and in the following month the Messrs. Backhouse, of the York Nursery, who imported the plant from Natal, obligingly forwarded from their greenhouse the specimen here represented. Dr. Lindley noticed the plant doubtfully as a Vallota : it wants the peculiar duplicature of the faux of the corolla of that genus, and it has not a bulbous root. Mr. Backhouse agrees with us that it is nearer Clivia than Vallota : so near, that I am not sorry to transfer one of the two generic names which that plant has borne to the present. Mr. Backhouse alone -has imported ripe fruit ; and the seeds which he describes are in appearance similar to the so-called bulbiform seed of other Amaryllidaceous plants, Crinum for example. We shall conclude this article with a description from the living plant, by Mr. Backhouse, which accompanied the specimen.

Descr. " After removing the flower-stem, the plant was taken out of the pot, and the earth thoroughly washed from it, so as to allow a complete investigation of its root. This was done with a view of relieving the plant from the encumbrance of a ball of exhausted hard earth. The vertical root-stock is about four inches long, cylindrical, and truncated ; the lower two inches are bare and like a section of a broomstick, about an inch in diameter. From the upper two inches protrude numerous whitish branched fibres, about the thickness of a goose's quill, clothed with a short pubescence on their younger portions. The leaves on our oldest plant were twenty-three in number, in opposite rows, the widened base of each leaf embracing that of the opposite one ; and in this respect, as well as in the root, resembling Clivia. The leaves of our plant are not linear nor rigid, like Clivia, but are linear-lanceolate and stout, and exhibit not only the longitudinal nerves, but some of the stronger transverse partitions ; like those of Clivia, they are perennial. In strong plants they come up from the centre in series of four to five at once, quickly succeeding each other; and about the time that the first of the new series is matured, the flower-stem is pro- truded between the outer one of these and the last of the next older series. The new leaves are of a rather brighter green than the old ones. The flower-stem is flattened, about a foot long, and supports an umbel of twelve to fifteen pedunculate flowers, at first enveloped in a sheath, composed of membranous and membranous-margined bracts. The stamen and style, when the flowers begin to open, are decidedly declining ; but the expansion of the flowers carries the upper stamens a little out of this position, and spreads the whole of them. So far as we have seen, but one ovule in each cell swells. Once, one in each of two cells was matured, and the third was abortive. In two other instances only one in one cell matured, and those of the other cells were abortive. I did not examine minutely the original number of rudimentary ovules. The seeds, being valuable to us, were not cut, so as to examine their internal structure ; but their size was that of a smallish horse-bean, and, though less rugged than those of Crinum, decidedly ' bulbiform at least so both William Wood and myself considered them. They were sown immediately, under the idea that they would not keep, and they quickly pushed up each a leaf. The capsule turned of a brownish colour and became soft, and the integument of the seed was moist ; and on a portion of the exterior being accidentally rubbed off, a silvery membranous coat, like that of the bulb-seeds of Crinum, was exhibited. Our old plant has for the last two years produced fresh leaves and a flower-stem about every four months. It has sent off several suckers from the portion of the root-stock which produces the fibres (if so the thick roots I have described may be called). If the flower-stem be kept in water, possibly some of the capsules may swell a little, so as to exhibit the number of the rudimentary ovules. The corollas are deciduous, as in Clivia, to which I certainly think the plant nearer than to Vallota. The flowers expand about two at a time daily, or in two days or longer periods, but remain so long as to form, along with the others also expanded, a fine head for from two weeks to a mouth, according to temperature.
Clivia miniata (Lindley) Regel

Gartenflora 13: , pl. 434. 1864.


Amaryllidaceae J. St.-Hil. - Missouri Botanical Garden

Alliaceae - Kew

Synonyms :

Clivia grandiflora; Imanthophyllum miniatum; Vallota miniata


Homotypic Synonyms:Imantophyllum miniatum (Lindl.) Hook., Bot. Mag. 80: t. 4783 (1854). Vallota miniata Lindl., Gard. Chron. 1854: 119 (1854). Himantophyllum miniatum (Lindl.) Groenl., Rev. Hort. 1859: 125 (1859).


Heterotypic Synonyms:Clivia sulphurea Laing, Wiener Ill. Gart.-Zeitung 2: 275 (1858). Himantophyllum atrosanguineum F.N.Williams, Cat. 1888: 20 (1888). Imantophyllum atrosanguineum F.N.Williams, Cat. 1888: 20 (1888). Clivia miniata var. citrina W.Watson, Garden (London 1871-1927) 56: 338 (1899). Clivia miniata var. flava E.Phillips, Fl. Pl. S. Africa 11: t. 411 (1931).