Chrysophyllum imperiale

Illustration Horticole 1874

Chrysophyllum imperiale (Linden ex K. Koch & Fintelm.) Benth. & Hook. f.
Genera Plantarum 2: 653. 1876.

This plant still grows at Monserrate. Though you'd be hard pressed to find it without a guide. Its in the old nursery ground, near the Roman Arch. You'll have to crick your neck to see it as the canopy is well above the surrounding vegetation-

Mentioned in 1885, 1923 & 1929 the plant was probaly planted in the 1860's since at this time this genus was at the height of popularity. Linden was awarded a first prize at the 1867 Paris Exposition for a collection that included The following species Th. imperialis, attenuata, glauca, macrophylla, crassipes, angustifolia, latifolia, undulala, longiflora, and nobilis, "tous à beau feuillage et gigantesques."

"This noble plant was an inmate of both British and Continental botanical gardens for thirty years before its genus was determined. [...] according to a careful history of it drawn up by M. André (L'Illust. Hortic. vol. xxi, 1874, p. 77 & 152, t. 184), the first living specimen known in Europe belonged to to Madame Legrelle-d'Hanis, at Berchem, where M. Linden saw it in 1846 with the name Theophrasta imperialis. In 1849 M. Libon sent living plants to M. de Jonghe at Brussels, and later on M. Linden received several hundred specimens from his collector, M. Marius Porte ; after which the plant became common in Europe. M. Linden's importation was of seedlings, and amongst these were ungerminated seeds which enabled that gentleman to refer that plant to the Sapotaceae. For a knowledge of its native country we are indebted to M. Houillet, of the Jardin de Plantes, to which establishment M. Porte sent plants, with information that they were from the province of Rio de Janeiro. Lastly herbarium specimens in flower and fruit were sent to Kew by that most energetic botanist M. Glaziou, Director of Public Parks at Rio, which enabled Mr. Bentham, when studying the order Sapotaceae for the Genera Plantarum, to refer the foundling to the essentailly American genus Chrysophyllum. M. Glaziou gives as the precise habitat the Serro da Estrello ; M. André gives the Mountain of Tijuca in the chain of the Corcovado, which is, I believe, part of the Serro da Estrello. (J. D. Hooker)

Flowered first in Europe at Cork, Ireland in April 1884.


Curtis's Botanical Magazine
Vol. XLI nº 6823 (1897)

Plantae Brasiliae centralis a Glaziou lectae
Liste des plantes du Brsil central recueillies en 1861-1895 / par A.-F.-M. Glaziou. (1828-1906)
47. Martiusella imperialis Pierre in Notes Botaniques Sapot., p. 66. -- Serra da Estrella et de Nova Friburgo, RIO-JAN., nºs 6633, 7745, 8230, 11163 et 20402. Grand arbre, fl blanchâtres, Novembre décembre. C.




Theophrasta imperialis Linden ex K. Koch & Fintelm. Wochenschrift für Gärtnerei und Pflanzenkunde 2: 91. 1859.

Synonyms
Chloroluma imperialis (Linden ex K. Koch & Fintelm.) Aubrév.
Martiusella imperialis (Linden ex K. Koch & Fintelm.) Pierre
Planchonella imperialis (Linden ex K. Koch & Fintelm.) Baehni
Theophrasta imperialis Linden ex K. Koch & Fintelm.

Theophrasta ? imperialis Hort. ; André in L'Illust. Hortic. vol. xxi, 1874, p. 77 & 152, t. 184
Regel, Gartenfl. 1864 p. 323, t. 453

Curatella speciosa, Dene, mss.

Chamaedorea pochutlensis

1929 as Chamaedorea elatior (This is a related species - but totally distinct, since it climbs).

Howea forsteriana

"with trunks 25 ft. high" 1929

Brahea armata

as Brahea Roezlii, 1929.

Phoenix reclinata

As Phoenix spinosa - old nursery 1923. "with seven well-furnished trunks from one root" 1929.

Jubaea chilensis

old nursery 1923

Washingtonia robusta

"The tallest palm in the garden, about seventy feet high" 1929

Phoenix canariensis

Phoenix canariensis Chabaud
Provence agricole et horticole illustrée; organe de l'agriculture et de l'horticulture méridionales. Toulon. 19: 293, f. 66-68. 1882.

Phoenix dactylifera var. jubae Webb & Berthel.
Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries 3: 289. 1847.

Phoenix jubae (Webb & Berthel.) Webb ex H. Christ
Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, ~
Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 6: 469. 1885.

Phoenix dactylifera var. jubae, Phoenix tenuis, Phoenix cycadifolia, Phoenix jubae, Phoenix vigieri, Phoenix erecta, Phoenix macrocarpa, Phoenix canariensis var. porphyrococca

Phoenix tenuis Verschaff., Cat. 84: 13 (1869), nom. nud.

Common Names:Canary Islands date palm, Canaries date palm, Canary date, Canary date palm. French: Palmier dattier des Canaries, Palmier ornemental des Canaries. German: Dattelpalme, Kanarische Dattelpalme


Phoenix dactylifera var. jubae Webb & Berthel., Hist. Nat. Iles Canaries 3: 289 (1847).
Phoenix tenuis Verschaff., Cat. 84: 13 (1869), nom. nud.
Phoenix cycadifolia Regel, Gartenflora 28: 131 (1879), provisional synonym.
Phoenix jubae (Webb & Berthel.) Webb ex H.Christ, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 6: 469 (1885).
Phoenix vigieri Naudin, Rev. Hort. 57: 541 (1885).
Phoenix erecta Sauv., Rev. Hort. 66: 495 (1894), nom. inval.
Phoenix macrocarpa Sauv., Rev. Hort. 66: 495 (1894), nom. inval.
Phoenix canariensis var. porphyrococca Vasc. & Franco, Portugaliae Act. Biol., Sér. B, Sist. 2: 313 (1948).

William Robinson used the name Ph. tenuis in his Parks, promenades and gardens of Paris, p. 246 and parks and Gardens of Paris p. 239

Phoenix dactylifera

The Date Palm

Howea belmoureana

Planted at Monserrate with a group of other palms in "Mexico" according to report 1890

Cycad collection

Walter Oates in 1923, new to his job, clearly knew nothing of Cycads. In his "Short Guide to the Gardens" he mentions two collections of cycads. Of the first, grouped with the palms at the foot of the lawn, he recognises only one species, the widely cultivated Cycas circinalis; the second group, in "Mexico" is without elucidation. He does however make specific mention of: close to the path a fine specimen of the rare Macrozamia Macleayi . Walter Oates 1923

By 1929, he had learnt the names of quite a few. The inference is that these plants existed before his tenure, probably from the early plantings of Francis Cook. Here is his description from the article written for the Gardeners' Chronicle: Cycads are represented by fine plants of Dioon edule, Encephalartos Lehmannii, E. villosum, E. horridus, Cycas revoluta, C. circinalis, Macrozamia spiralis and many other species. On the lawn, standing alone, is a magnificent plant of Macrozamia Macleayi, with a trunk 3 ft. high, 2 ft. thick, and with three large branches, each bearing broad, pinnate, glossy, dark-green leaves 6 ft. to 8 ft. long. Walter Oates, 1929

Already in 1885 Macrozamia miquelii was grown (as Macrozamia mackenzii)

The List:
Dioone edule
Encephalartos: lehmanii, villosum, horridus
Cycas: revoluta, circinalis
Macrozamia: spiralis, macleayi, miquelii

To this list Javier Segura adds Ceratozamia mexicana from recent observation. The Encephalartos and Macrozamias have disappeared.

Surviving list:
Dioone edule
Cycas circinalis
Cycas revoluta
Ceratozamia mexicana

Sabal palmetto

Sabal umbraculifera Mart.

Cresit frequens in insulis Haitiana et Cuba, ubi Palma de cana et de Sombreo dicitur, alisque in insularis caribaeis. Primus in hortus europaeos traduxit Jacquinus pater.

Sabal à ombrelles, S. umbraculifera Mart., Gen. et Sp. Palm., p. 215,
130,t.T, f.5, et t.Z, f.l. Sabal blackburniana Kirkland. Tronc épais, haut 10-13 mètres, entouré par les bases des feuilles et des fibres ; feuilles grandes, & nombreuses lanières, glauques, concaves au milieu, ayant le pétiole plus long que la lame ; spadices deux fois plus courts que les feuilles. Baies lobuleuses, d'un noir-verdâtre, lui- antes, à chair mince et noyau demi- lobuleux. Commun dans les Antilles, notamment à Haïti et Cuba.

Manuel général des plantes arbres et arbustes 1857

La Sabal blackburniana Glazebr. ex Schult. & Schult. = Sabal umbraculifera (Jacq.) Mart. palmeto de Santo Domingo.

Los árboles y arbustos de la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares

Synonyms
Corypha umbraculifera Jac. Fragm. bot. 12 (1800), nom. illegitimo. Attention Homonymn Corypha umbraculifera L. is an authentic species: the Talipot Palm of India.
Sabal blackburniana, Kirkland Glazebrook, in London Gardeners' Magazine V. (1829) p. 52

Sorting Sabal names
Sabal bermudana L. H. Bailey = Sabal princeps hort. ex Becc. = Sabal blackburniana Hemsl.

Sabal blackburniana Glazebr. ex Schult. & Schult. f. = Possibly a synonym of Sabal umbraculifera (Jacq.) Mart. = Sabal blackburnia Glazebr = Sabal blackburnianum Glazebrook = Inodes blackburnian

Sabal umbraculifera (Jacq.) Mart. = Corypha umbraculifera Jacq., Sabal blackburniana Glazebr. ex Schult.

RBG Kew World Checklist
Sabal umbraculifera Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 3: 245 (1838), provisional synonym.
This name is a synonym.
Accepted Name:
Sabal palmetto (Walter) Lodd. ex Schult. & Schult.f., Syst. Veg. 7: 1487 (1830).
Homotypic Synonyms:
* Corypha palmetto Walter, Fl. Carol.: 119 (1788).
Chamaerops palmetto (Walter) Michx., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 206 (1803).
Inodes palmetto (Walter) O.F.Cook, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 532 (1901).
* Basionym/Replaced Synonym
Heterotypic Synonyms:
Corypha umbraculifera Jacq., Fragm. Bot.: 12 (1800), nom. illeg.
Sabal blackburnia Glazebr., Gard. Mag. & Reg. Rural Domest. Improv. 5: 52 (1829), nom. provis.
Sabal blackburniana Schult. & Schult.f., Syst. Veg. 7: 1488 (1830), provisional synonym.
Sabal umbraculifera Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 3: 245 (1838), provisional synonym.
Inodes blackburniana (Schult. & Schult.f.) O.F.Cook, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 531 (1901).
Inodes schwarzii O.F.Cook, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 532 (1901).
Sabal palmetto var. bahamensis Becc., Webbia 2: 38 (1907).
Sabal parviflora Becc., Webbia 2: 43 (1908).
Sabal schwarzii (O.F.Cook) Becc., Webbia 2: 39 (1908).
Sabal jamesiana Small, J. New York Bot. Gard. 28: 182 (1927).
Sabal bahamensis (Becc.) L.H.Bailey, Gentes Herb. 6: 417 (1944).
Sabal viatoris L.H.Bailey, Gentes Herb. 6: 403 (1944).

Syagrus romanzoffiana

Coquero de Bresil (Cocos Romanzoffiana Cham.)
dess. et lith. par Choris, lith. de Langlume
Paris : Imprimerie Firmin Didot, 1822

Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cham.) Glassman
Fieldiana, Botany 31(17): 382. 1968

Figured in the BM as Nº 5180 Cocos plumosa and still known in nursery trade of Portugal as Coqueiro do Jardim, this is widely cultivated as an ornamental palm. First flowered at Kew in 1859, it had been received from the nurseryman Loddiges as a Brazilian species to which Von Martius had given the name of Cocos coronata, but had proved distinct from that species. Hooker adopted the name from the Loddiges catalogue and gave it a Latin description as Cocos plumosa , Hook. Just one of the 23 or more synonyms that this palm has accumulated over the past century and a half.

Local names (Argentina) Pindo, Coco Pindo, Coquito

English name: Queen Palm

Indigenous to southern and southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, northeastern Argentina and northern Uraguay. Monsoonal forests and swampy areas, always at low elevation. (Riffle & Craft).

Still growing at Monserrate, down Mexico way ...

Synonyms

Arecastrum romanzoffianum (Cham.) Becc.
López, J. A. & E. L. Little, Jr. 1987. Arboles Comunes del Paraguay 425 pp..
Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2000. Magnoliophyta: Alismatidae, Arecidae, Commelinidae (in part), and Zingiberidae. Fl. N. Amer. 22: i–xxiii, 1–352.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Flora of China Editorial Committee, Addendum, 200?. Fl. China ,Checklist Addendum.
Glassman, S. F. 1968. Studies in the Palm genus Syagrus Mart.. Fieldiana, Bot. 31: 363–397.
Arecastrum romanzoffianum subvar. minus Becc.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Arecastrum romanzoffianum var. australe (Mart.) Becc.
Glassman, S. F. 1968. Studies in the Palm genus Syagrus Mart.. Fieldiana, Bot. 31: 363–397.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
*Arecastrum romanzoffianum var. genuinum Becc.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Arecastrum romanzoffianum var. micropindo Becc.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Cocos acrocomioides Drude
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Cocos arechavaletana Barb. Rodr.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Cocos australis Mart.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Cocos datil Drude & Griseb.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Glassman, S. F. 1968. Studies in the Palm genus Syagrus Mart.. Fieldiana, Bot. 31: 363–397.
Cocos geriba Barb. Rodr.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Cocos martiana Drude & Glaz. ex Drude
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Cocos plumosa Lodd. ex Hook.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.
Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2000. Magnoliophyta: Alismatidae, Arecidae, Commelinidae (in part), and Zingiberidae. Fl. N. Amer. 22: i–xxiii, 1–352.
Cocos romanzoffiana Cham.

Rhopalostylis sapida

Curtis's Botanical Magazine
vol. 85, Nº5139 (1859)

Rhopalostylis sapida H. Wendl. & Drude
Les Palmiers 255

"The generic name Rhopalostylis was proposed by H. Wendland and Oscar Drude for the two palms of the Southern Hemisphere known by the old names of Areca sapida and A. Baueri. Rhopalostylis sapida from New Zealand and R. Baueri from Norfolk Island are two palms very well characterized and distinct, but have a some-what uncertain synonymy, and have been frequently confounded, or considered as representing one species only. Martius himself has apparently, in his description of Areca sapida, cumulated the characteristics of the palm of New Zealand with those of the Norfolk Island palm; but the fine plates 151 and 152 of his Historia naturalis Palmarum, reproduced from Bauer's drawings, represent only Areca (Rhopalostylis) Baueri.

The name of Areca sapida Solander appears for the first time, I believe, in the work of Georg Forster, De Plantis esculentis insularum Oceani australis Commentatio botanica, 1786, p. 66, n. 35; but apparently Solander has never given a description of that palm, and Forster evidently considers the New Zealand palm the same as that growing in Norfolk Island, as he writes of A. sapida, “Reperitur spontanea in Nova Zelandia usque ad aestuarium Charlottae reginae, et frequens in Norfolciae insula deserta.”

H. Wendland, in the “Enumeration of all Known Palms,” published in the work of Oswald de Kerchove de Denterghem, Les Palmiers, considers as Rhopalostylis sapida Wendl. et Drude only that which goes by the horticultural name of Kentia sapida, figured in the Botanical Magazine in plate 5139, under the name of Areca sapida. To Rhopalostylis Baueri he refers A Baueri Hook, of the Botanical Magazine (plate 5735), Areca sapida Sol., Kentia sapida Mart., A. Banksiia A. Cunn., and Seaforthia robusta Hort." (Odoardo Beccari)

Cunningham saw this palm in flower at Wangaroa, New Zealand (where he alsao discovered Persoonia tora A. Cunningham). By his observation of the flower structure he called into question the inclusion of this palm in the genus Areca. His stay at Wangaroa was shortened on account of a quarrel among the natives. (W. J. Hooker - Journal of Botany)

The family of the Palmae is represented in New Zealand by the Areca sapida. In the deepest recesses of the forest the traveller enjoys the sight of this garceful tree, which grows throughout the island, and often to the height of 40 feet, and a foot in diameter. It is a useful tree to the natives, who call it nikau, and use its pinnate leaves for roofing their houses. The undeveloped plaited leaves, or the heart, are also eaten by them. Travels in New Zealand, Ernst Dieffenbach, 1843. Apparently they taste rather of coconut. In 1847 George French Angas saw so many palms destroyed for their cabbage that he feared for the survival of the species., The flowers are also eaten.

Cultivated history
Flowered in the Palm House at Kew, 1859. The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany and all useful discoveries in 1868 considered the species to be a fine plant, but dear [expensive] and scarce, "it does not require much heat, but demands plenty of light." Suzanne Treseder gives notice of a shipment of 20 plants from Sydney, Australia to Helford, Cornwall in 1890 at the price of five pounds a pot (half the price of Howea belmoreana or an Araucaria).

There are at least two specimens at Monserrate, one near the palacio and another near the stable block (mentioned in Walter Oate's 1923 guide to the gardens).

Synonyms
Areca sapida
Kentia sapida (hort.)

Rhopalostylis baueri

ICON. EXPL. Tab. 151. Areca sapida in insula Norkfolk unacum Alsophila excelsa, Freycinetia Baueriana, Phormio tenaci et Araucaria excelsa exhibita, seconum icones de Ferdinando Bauero relictas. Habes igitur, benevole lector, heic, exemplo sane rarissimo, in loco naturali uno eodemque palmam, filicem arborescentem et arborem ex ordine coniferarum.

Historia naturalis palmarum : opus tripartium
Carol. Frid. Phil. de Martius. Volume 3 of 3

Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, (1794 - 1868)
Cresit in insula Norfolk: Forster, King, Ferd. Bauer, Backhouse; in nova Selandia prope Wangaroa (latitudine 35 grad.) in sylvis humidis ad fluviorum ripas aeque in apricis montion : Jos. Banks, Allan Cunningham. Hanc Palmam verosimiliter ultimum Palmarum limitem versus Austrum attingere, latitudine australi circiter 38 graduum, observat ill. Rob. Brown in Flinders Trav. II. p. 577.

Ferdinand Lukas Bauer (1760-1826) The above plate from Martius' monumental book on palms was worked up from drawings made by Bauer, who had travelled to Australia, Norfolk Island, Timor and the Cape) accompanying the botanist Robert Brown in the Investigator in 1800-1805 (commanded by Matthew Flinders). Bauer was a superb draughtsman, but his perfectionism and extreme attention to detail meant that the vast majority of his drawings remained unpublished as engravings.

Martius was of the opinion that this palm "Areca sapida" grew both on Norfolk island and New Zealand. Later botanists separated the species into the species baueri from Norfolk island and sapida from New Zealand - which specimens grew at the southerly latitudes to which Robert Brown referred.

The current name for this palm is

Rhopalostylis baueri H. Wendl. & Drude

Two varieties are recognised:
Rhopalostylis baueri var. baueri (Norfolk Island)
Rhopalostylis baueri var. cheesemanii (Kermerdec Islands)

As a cultivated plant, this palm is extremely rare in Portugal. There is one specimen at Monserrate (near the lower ornamental lake, next to the Taxodium) another specimen grows at the Lisbon Botanical Garden amdist a grove of Kentias.

Curtis's Botanical Magazine 5735 as Areca Baueri
Nicholson's Dictionary figures a young pot grown plant. Vol. VI p. 299

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana H. Wendl. & Drude
Linnaea 39: 214. 1875.

This palm is referred to in modern garden books as the bungalow (bangalow) or piccabeen palm. However it is known by gardeners, in common parlance, as "the elegant palm". Authors avoid the use of this common name because it is an inheritance from the rather tortured nomenclatural progress of this species. Hooker in the Botanical Magazine of 1857 described a palm (Nº 4961) with the name Seaforthia elegans. Allan Cunningham (1791-1839) had sent seed to Kew from Australia in 1825 and a palm that had reached twenty-eight feet in height flowered in 1856. It was this plant that was figured in the Botanical Magazine together with an inflorescence and details male and female flowers. The flowers were described as "pale, dull, lilac colour" produced from "the side of the dark green, graceful trunk." Unfortunately no fruits were produced at this time and Hooker used fruits from another source to complete the plate. The problem began here for these fruits did not belong to the same species as that produced from Cunningham's seed.

These fruits came from Robert Brown's genus Seaforthia - indeed from the type species Seaforthia elegans. Hooker was clearly under the mistaken impression that Cunningham's plants were the same. He should have realised from the flower colour (Seaforthia elegans has white flowers). Had fruit been produced he would have seen spherical red fruits instead of the oblong globular fruits that he had drawn for this plate. The drawing of the entire plant is very slender for this (Cunningham's) species, but this was likely a consequence of glasshouse cultivation in a Northern climate.

This taxonomic mess was sorted out by Hermann Wendland who "clarified the situation with his description of Ptychosperma cunninghamiana in Botanische Zeitung. Subsequently Wendland and Drude renamed it Archontophoenix cunninghamiana in 1875 in Linnaea when they created Archontophoenix as a new genus. (PALMS & CYCADS No. 39, Apr-Jun 1993.)

But the damage was done, not Hooker's finest hour, and this palm passed into the nursery trade as Seaforthia elegans, the elegant palm. Walter Oates was still using this name in 1929, seventy-two years later. What is more we are still calling it the "Elegant palm", which denomination it certainly deserves !

Cunningham found the palm at Illawarra (or as he referred to it the "Five Island District"), a portion of Australia remarkable for the almost tropical character and luxurience of its vegetation. During his month-long stay he made a very rich collection of both specimens and seeds. (W. J. Hooker)

Cunningham made the voyage aboard the cutter Mermaid, under Captain Philip Parker King, R.N., between 29 December 1817 and 29 July 1818, surveying the north-west coast of Australia, during which he made the discovery. He described the palm and associated vegetation in his journal, quoted in his obitiary in the Journal of Botany:

"I returned from a late excursion to the country southerly, with a collection of interesting plants and some seeds found during my stay there, in the diversified country in that vicinity, particularly under the mountain-belt bounding the fine cattle-runs to the westward, whose shaded damp woods afforded me a considerable scope for botanical investigation, although I was in several instances, too early in the season for expanded flowering specimens. I was nevertheless fortunate in the detection of many fine plants, either in fruit or in a partially flowering condition, that I have never examined before. They are, however, for the most part, plants known to that eminent botanist, Mr Brown, a circumstance that tempts me to conclude the vegetable productions of those shaded close forests, full of volubilous and scandent species, to be of the same description as those of the Cedar woods of the Coal River, (Hunter's River,) whence that gentleman, in 1804, could have alone obtained those plants he has described, and which I have again detected two degrees to the southward of it, viz., at the Red Point of the charts, a district wholly unknown to any botanist at that period of time. Among the plants to which I allude, the following are remarkable:— Cargillia australis, Achra sp., Cryptocarya and Tetranthera, genera of Laurineae, a Podocarpus, in habit like Taxus elongatus, Marsdenia rostrata, and Tylophora sp., a singular cork-barked tree, Duboisia?, a Palm, which I suspect is the tropical Seaforthia, and many others, not clearly ascertained."

Habitat and cultivation

From Southern and East Central rainforests of Australia. Requires full sun and moderate water. Piccabeen palms may also be found in the wetter sclerophyll forests of the same region.
My favourite palm web-site PACSOA has some good habitat photos including this forest of Bangalows at Mt. Mee, south-east Queensland (Photo Michael Grey). This is exactly how I have seen this palm growing in semi-naturalised conditions at São Miguel (Azores). Which inspired me to plant this grove at Hotel Miramar (Funchal, Madeira).

This palm is not at all cold tolerant, there are very few locations in Europe where it may be found growing outdoors. It is also poorly adapted to wind and salt. Monserrate provides good growing conditions but the plants would benefit from additional watering.

THE TRUE ELEGANT PALM IS A LEGITIMATE SPECIES : Ptychosperma elegans
The name Seaforthia elegans is therefore NOT a synonym of Archontophoenix cunninghamiana as is sometimes stated. Not cultivated (to my knowledge) on Mainland Portugal. Old Plants are occasionally seen in Madeira.

Seaforthia elegans R. Br.
Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae 1: 267. 1810.

Ptychosperma elegans (R. Br.) Blume
Rumphia 2: 118. 1843

Abies procera

A Manual of The Coniferae
James Veitch, Chelsea, 1881

Abies procera Rehder
Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993. Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms.

Walter Oates records a Noble Fir (formerly known as Abies nobilis) growing at Monserrate in 1929


Willamette National Forest
US Forest Service


Details of flowering shoots
US Forest Service

Discovered by the redoubtable David Douglas, this was one of his favourite trees: "I spent three days in a forest composed of this tree, and day by day could not cease to admire it". He described this "majestic tree, forming vast forests on the mountains of Northern California" [Cascade Mountains]. (North American Sylva - Francis André Michaux, 1865)

Veitch, p. 101 : Habitat.- Principally in the neighbourhood of the Columbia River in Oregon, and southwards as far as the Shasta Mountains in California. Introduced in 1831 by the Horticultural Society of London through their collector, David Douglas.

Abies nobilis at Highnam Court
Present height (1881) 60 feet [It reaches 250 ft.]

Abies nobilis is universally allowed to be one of the greatest of Douglas' discoveries and introductions. Besides its noble aspect, and the distinct colour of its foliage, it possesses qualities that render it especially valuable in ornamental planting, for which alone it should be employed in Britain, although its timber is useful in its native country.

This tree is happiest in areas of high rainfall and acid conditions and will not tolerate alkaline soil.

The length of the lower branches of the finest specimens at present growing in Britain, range from 15 to 18 feet, so that a space having a radius greater than these dimensions must be allowed for the development of its grand proportions.

Abies procera 'Glauca'
Though the leaves of this species are naturally glaucous (silvery) this variety represents a particular selection according to this characteristic. Nowdays the tree is most familiar as a deluxe Christmas tree. It has the particular merit of retaining its needles in centrally heated interiors.

What an ignominious end for such a noble fir!







Synonyms
Pinus nobilis Douglas ex D. Don A Description of the Genus Pinus, ed. 3 1832.
non A. nobilis A. Dietrich, (1824) [used for Abies alba]

That non cost the Noble Fir its epiphet. The name could not be shared by two different plants and the pedestrian Abies procera (procerus = tall) took its place; published by American Botanist Rehder in 1940.

Other synonyms:
Picea nobilis (Douglas ex D. Don) Loudon Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum 4: 2342. 1838. (Arbor. Frutic. Brit.)
Pseudotsuga nobilis (Douglas ex D. Don) W.R. McNab Proceedings of thr Royal Irish Academy 2: 209-213, t. 49. 1876. (Proc. Roy. Irish Acad.)


David Douglas
His expeditions were sponsored by what was to become the Royal Horticultural Society, having been recommended by Sir William Hooker, first Director of Kew. Douglas had become friendly with Hooker in Glasgow where, in 1820, he worked in the Botanic Gardens; the same year that Hooker had become Professor of Botany at the University. It is reputed that he suffered snow blindness as a result of his later expeditionary work. He certainly became blind in one eye, and problems with his sight probably contributed to his premature death in 1834, at the age of 35. On his way home from the Pacific Northwest in Hawaii he was gored in a wild cattle trap into which he had fallen, a frightful end for one of the world's most prolific plant hunters.

University of Glasgow

Tibouchina urvilleana

Pleroma kunthianum BM 4412

Tibouchina urvilleana Cogn.

Fl. Bras. (Martius) 14(3): 358.

Melastomataceae

Last time I looked, there was still one left, near the Cromlech. But what a pity such a beautiful plant has almost disappeared from Monserrate. Walter Oates records one from the small lawn below the chapel terrace in 1929.

This plant will naturalise in cool moist conditions. It is a weed in Hawaii, and in Madeira at Santo da Serra and other damp cool highlands. Sintra is too dry, here it is a cherished garden plant. It spreads by vegetative means, no viable seed is produced in cultivation. This explains why it is only invasive in damp conditions - roots from stem fragments. In habitat it actually grows in quite dry scrubby situations.

Infuriating nomenclatural history, far too many synonyms, often misidentified. Oates called it T. semidecandra. Hooker called it Pleroma Kunthianum. It was illustrated in Curtis's Botanical Magazine (4412) under this designation. (December of 1848) This species was introduced to Europe when raised from seeds received at Glasgow Botanic Garden (sent by Gardner when collecting in the Organ Mountains above 3000 ft.). Murray later sent seeds to Kew. Paxton in 1847 considered this to be a stove-shrub.

In 1841 Gardner took six wardian cases full of live plants by ship to England from Piedade, Brazil, one of these he refers to in a footnote as Pleroma Benthamiana. He had found it growing at Chapeo d'Uva in the Organ Mountains.

But there was a later introduction of a closely related species with much larger flowers, produced precociously on small plants. This too was illustrated: Pleroma macranthum BM 5721 (1868). "This magnificent plant ... the finest flowered of all Melastomaceae" Collected by M. Libon in the province of St. Catherine, and introduced by Linden from his nursery at Brussels. Mr Bull of Chelsea flowered it in April of 1868. Sometimes listed today is var. Floribunda, or var. Grandiflora. As we shall see this was actually Tibouchina urvilleana. As a superior plant it quickly displaced T. semidecandra, but the name stuck.

The mix up of names is still confusing today. Informed opinion (New York Botanic Garden) suggests that the Brazilian Tibouchina semidecandra is no longer in cultivation, plants grown in gardens are all Tibouchina urvilleana (synonymous with Lasiandra macrantha and Pleroma macrantha). Since this mix-up dates from at least the beginning of the twentieth century, it is almost certain that Oates's plants were Tibouchina urvilleana.

Tibouchina conumdrum:

Pleroma Benthamianum, Pleroma macranthum, Pleroma splendens

Lasiandra Kunthiana, Lasiandra macrantha (still offered in some Portuguese nurseries under this name).

Tibouchina grandiflora, Tibouchina semidecandra

From Flora Brasiliensis vol. 14 part 3 p. 358

TIBOUCHINA URVILLEANA Cogn.

syn. Lasiandra Urvilleana DC

Pleroma vimineum Triana.

Habitat in insula S. Catharina : D'Urville, Guadichaud n. 242

Trivia: French naval officer Jules Sebastian Cesar Dumont d'Urville (1790-1842), was responsible for the purchase by the French government of a Greek statue found on the island of Milos: the Venus de Milo

Trithrinax brasiliensis

Les Palmiers, Kerchove, Paris 1878

Trithrinax brasiliensis Mart.
Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352.

Trithrinax acanthocoma Drude (Gartenflora 27: 361. 1878)
Modern Botanists include T.acanthocoma within T. brasiliensis.

Still growing below the chapel as described by Walter Oates in 1929. For many years I overlooked this palm as a Trachycarpus (common throughout the garden). The spines within the fibrous trunk were concealed by ivy. These, along with the palms identity, were revealed in clearing works carried out in late 1990's.

Cette espèce, sans ètre commune, est encore une de celles dont l'habitation est très-étendue. Je l'ai vue sur deux points seulement : près du Rio Parana, un peu au-dessus de la Bajada, c'est-à-dire vers le 31.º degé de latitude sud. Elle croissant isolément au sommet des falaises de Féliciano, au milieu des broussailles, en des lieux très-secs. Comme tous les plants en étaient assez rabougris, je dus croire qu'elle se trouvait aux confins de sa zone d'habitation. Je l'ai retrouvée ensuite vers le 17.º degré de latitude, au sein de la grande forêt (Monte Grande) qui sépare santa-Cruz de la Sierra de la province de Chiquitos (Bolivia). Elle croit alors par bouquets et par bois, sur les lieux les plus élevés de l'immense plaine qui sépare le versant de l'Amazon de celui de la Plata. Elle se mêle souvant aux autres arbres, et specialment aux boissons; car je ne l'ai jamais rencontrée au sein de la forêt, quand celle-ci est composée de grands arbres.
Ses feuilles, cueillies avant leur épanouissement, servent à tresser des chapeaux assez estimés.
Les Espagnols du pays la nomment Saho, mot corrompu, sans doute, du nome de Utsaho, que lui donnent les Indiens Guarayos de la Bolivia. Les Chiquitos l'appellent dans leur langue, Huaichick.

Alcide d'Orbigny
Voyage dans l'Amérique Méridionale(le Brésil, la république orientale de l'Uruguay, la République argentine, la Patagonie, la république du Chili, la république de Bolivia, la république du Pérou), exécuté pendant les années 1826, 1827, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, et 1833,V.e Levrault, 1835-47.
Vol. 7 pt. 3, p. 44., Paris, Pitois-Levrault et c.e; Strasbourg, 1835-47

Exochorda racemosa

Exochorda racemosa (Lindl.) Rehder

Plantae Wilsonianae 1(3): 456. 1913.

Walter Oates was using the old name for this rosaceous shrub, Exochorda grandiflora, as described in Gardener's Chronicle & Agricultural Gazette 1858: 925. 1858. Once growing below the chapel, it is long gone, not only from Monserrate, but also it has practically disappeared from Portuguese gardens altogether.

Sent by Fortune as Amelanchier racemosa from the north of China, to the Bagshot nursery of Standish and Noble. Hardy in Surrey, flowered May, 1854.

Synonyms

Amelanchier racemosa Lindley 1847

Spirea grandiflora Hooker Bot Mag LXXX (4795) 1847

also illustr. Fl. des Serr. IX. 247, (954) 1854