tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47543294322954037832024-03-13T12:30:55.883+00:00A Digital Botanic Garden.... where anything growsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-80471656006812512482016-07-15T17:51:00.001+01:002016-07-15T17:51:32.105+01:00Gardens after rain<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-38743606602458538412016-04-14T17:24:00.002+01:002016-04-14T17:24:41.663+01:00Viburnum x burkwoodii, Adoxaceae<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I first saw this wonderful shrub growing in a garden near Cambridge this week I thought it was <i>Viburnum x burkwoodii</i> but when I posted a picture on Twitter Alan Gardner @autisticgardner identified it as <i>V. carlesii</i> 'Aurora', so now I'm not so sure.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Either way, it makes a wonderful display in April and filled this sheltered garden with a delightful spicy scent.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>V. x burkwoodii</i> is a hybrid between <i>V. carlesii</i> and <i>V. utile</i>, produced by Arthur and Albert Burkwood in the 19th. century. I though it might be this because <i>V. carlesii</i> only grows to about 1.5m. tall while this is about 2.5m., although it does have some of the intense pink colouring of the latter species at the bud stage. </span></b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yttCdf0xoHM/Vw9780N7VzI/AAAAAAAASlg/usw9QtE2a00uEiahqb4OZYz-s2fUUthPACLcB/s1600/viburnumburkwoodiiP1400231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yttCdf0xoHM/Vw9780N7VzI/AAAAAAAASlg/usw9QtE2a00uEiahqb4OZYz-s2fUUthPACLcB/s400/viburnumburkwoodiiP1400231.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In autumn it has bright red fruits that blacken during winter, and the autumn foliage goes a deep shade of red.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all, a very desirable shrub, whatever species or hybrid it might be. It's a native of Korea and Japan.</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mwlmP-JYXGI/Vw978rDdo4I/AAAAAAAASlc/-DA87jHrGL0TfI5RnFsCZdidyjwxQaExQCLcB/s1600/viburnumP1400207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mwlmP-JYXGI/Vw978rDdo4I/AAAAAAAASlc/-DA87jHrGL0TfI5RnFsCZdidyjwxQaExQCLcB/s400/viburnumP1400207.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-63867634553936466462014-04-10T12:06:00.001+01:002014-04-10T12:06:24.218+01:00Erythronium 'Pagoda', Liliaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Few spring flowers have such grace and elegance as <i>Erythronium</i> 'Pagoda', right from the time that the buds form to the moment when the sulphur yellow tepals open and curl backwards.</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3QSyfzkGZXo/U0ZRjebk0uI/AAAAAAAAMaY/dnP1_-Bg09g/s1600/erythroniumdenscanisbudP1100505.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3QSyfzkGZXo/U0ZRjebk0uI/AAAAAAAAMaY/dnP1_-Bg09g/s1600/erythroniumdenscanisbudP1100505.jpg" height="640" width="366" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's an easy plant to grow, thriving in permanently moist soil in the dappled shade of deciduous trees. The only problem is remembering where the bulbs have been planted after the flowers and foliage die back in summer - it's easy to forget and accidentally dig them up. Left undisturbed, it steadily increases forming very attractive carpets of spring foliage and flowers.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The genus <i>Erythronium</i> has a northern temperate distribution, with around twenty two species that are mostly found in deciduous woodlands. There is a very good series of Scottish Rock Garden Club articles by Ed Alverson describing the North American species in their natural habitat and including some very fine photographs, which you can access by clicking <a href="http://www.srgc.org.uk/monthfeature/april2006/content.html">here</a>, <a href="http://www.srgc.org.uk/monthfeature/may2006/content.html">here</a>, <a href="http://www.srgc.org.uk/monthfeature/june2006/content.html">here</a>, <a href="http://www.srgc.org.uk/monthfeature/july2006/content.html">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.srgc.org.uk/monthfeature/august2006/content.html">here</a>.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Erythronium</i> is often called the trout lily or dog's tooth violet, the latter name referring to the tooth-like shape of the bulbs rather than the flowers. The name trout lily refers to the similarity between the mottling on the leaves and the skin markings of trout.</span></b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-10163510432832631732013-11-24T12:24:00.000+00:002013-11-24T12:24:02.743+00:00Broad bean aka faba bean, Vicia faba, Fabaceae<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vigR-usQFeQ/UDEt5X6IvhI/AAAAAAAAGx0/OCVB6FycMs4/s1600/broadbeansbrightDSC_0243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vigR-usQFeQ/UDEt5X6IvhI/AAAAAAAAGx0/OCVB6FycMs4/s400/broadbeansbrightDSC_0243.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Few seeds have such a pleasing shape as freshly shelled broad beans and I cannot think of another vegetable crop which has such fragrant flowers. I spent several years of my professional career working on the reproductive biology of this crop, alongside plant breeders who were trying to breed higher yielding, more stable varieties.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of the secret of high yields is effective pollination. The crop has a strange breeding system, where some of the plants are capable of self pollination (so-called autofertiles) and others </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(known as autosteriles) </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">require cross pollination by bees. Cross pollinated plants produce offspring capable of self pollination and offspring of self pollinated plants are autosteriles that require bee pollination, so the proportion of each type, and therefore the number of plants that need bees to pollinate their flowers, varies between generations - leading to fluctuating yields in successive crops. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But always the key to a good yield is good pollination ...</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7jRhNUX1tL8/Ub7cLKI9_NI/AAAAAAAAJwk/ag159vqZqac/s1600/beefababeanP1120323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7jRhNUX1tL8/Ub7cLKI9_NI/AAAAAAAAJwk/ag159vqZqac/s400/beefababeanP1120323.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">......... and for that you need plenty of bumblebees, because honeybees aren't really robust enough to be effective pollinators.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IF9A5BuAQBI/T-X9g_cD6ZI/AAAAAAAAGHc/pKJS3PDi_jw/s1600/viciabeevisitIMGP4414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IF9A5BuAQBI/T-X9g_cD6ZI/AAAAAAAAGHc/pKJS3PDi_jw/s400/viciabeevisitIMGP4414.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bumblebee needs to land on the keel petal and force it downwards to reach the pollen, and then extends its tongue to reach the nectar which is at the back of the corolla tube. As it does so ....</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lfSQnbrTM3I/T-X9kckh4fI/AAAAAAAAGHk/_9Yx-4z453I/s1600/viciatrippingIMGP4411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lfSQnbrTM3I/T-X9kckh4fI/AAAAAAAAGHk/_9Yx-4z453I/s640/viciatrippingIMGP4411.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.... the stigma and stamens are released from the keel petals that envelope them and pollen is transferred to the bee and broad bean stigma, so .......</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cxzLHLP0_fg/T-X9nUnoQnI/AAAAAAAAGHs/hL9zjGsG_FY/s1600/viciatrippedflowerIMGP4398.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cxzLHLP0_fg/T-X9nUnoQnI/AAAAAAAAGHs/hL9zjGsG_FY/s640/viciatrippedflowerIMGP4398.jpg" width="430" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">....... flowers that have been well and truly bumblebee pollinated look like this after the bee moves on. That requires quite a lot of effort on the part of the bee ...</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RuiiHirgBDs/T-X9qLdWfEI/AAAAAAAAGH0/73j9ai6peWQ/s1600/viciatheftIMGP4408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RuiiHirgBDs/T-X9qLdWfEI/AAAAAAAAGH0/73j9ai6peWQ/s400/viciatheftIMGP4408.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.... but bumblebees are smart and some learn to be nectar thieves, biting a hole in the corolla tube and using their long tongues to extract the nectar without tripping the flower.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Vicia faba</i> flowers are exquisitely fragrant and to stand in a field of them in full bloom on a summer morning is a memorable experience.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is quite a lot of flower colour variation in this species, with pure white flowers in some varieties and - more rarely - plants with purple or yellow wing petal spots. There's also considerable variation in seed size, from the small-seeded <i>paucijuga</i> types that are grown in North Africa, through the larger seeded <i>equina</i> 'horse beans' (aka field beans) that are grown for animal feed, to the large-seeded broad bean types that are grown as a vegetable.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plant breeders only have the genetic variation within the cultivated crop to work with - <i>Vicia faba</i> is a <a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_1689778345"></span>cultigen<span id="goog_1689778346"></span></a>, an ancient crop of unknown origin with no known wild populations. What's more, it will not cross with related wild <i>Vicia</i> species, so the pool of genetic variabilty that plant breeders have to their disposal is strictly limited.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UtZvYduUJ6w/UpHsnP6dotI/AAAAAAAALuQ/aZdfB9u9wTY/s1600/Illustration_Vicia_faba1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UtZvYduUJ6w/UpHsnP6dotI/AAAAAAAALuQ/aZdfB9u9wTY/s640/Illustration_Vicia_faba1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Illustration_Vicia_faba1.jpg">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Illustration_Vicia_faba1.jpg</a></span></b><br />
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<b><br /></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-90250924584285930382013-10-16T10:19:00.001+01:002013-10-24T16:07:10.594+01:00Decaisnea fargesii, Dead Man's Fingers, Lardizabalaceae<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mention the word 'autumn' and what colours spring to mind? Most likely crimson, scarlet, orange, yellow, russet, gold ......... but probably not blue. But that's the colour of the eye-catching fruits of <i>Decaisnea fargesii</i>, ripening in <a href="https://www.dur.ac.uk/botanic.garden/">Durham University Botanic Garden</a> today.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2yJprNqwvcc/Ul1mYUdcPMI/AAAAAAAALYc/r3KqhbIa9ic/s1600/decaisneafargesiipodsP1170955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2yJprNqwvcc/Ul1mYUdcPMI/AAAAAAAALYc/r3KqhbIa9ic/s640/decaisneafargesiipodsP1170955.jpg" width="342" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This large shrub has attractive, long, pinnate leaves ........</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PLmglVvR5dw/Ul1mYYaQS5I/AAAAAAAALYU/JmI6UQJueiw/s1600/decaisneafargesiileafunderP1170961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PLmglVvR5dw/Ul1mYYaQS5I/AAAAAAAALYU/JmI6UQJueiw/s400/decaisneafargesiileafunderP1170961.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...... grey-green below .....</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aK_9S6OaZJk/Ul1mYmB2R1I/AAAAAAAALYY/Kk9zg4tapww/s1600/decaisneafargesiipodsandfruitP1170962.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aK_9S6OaZJk/Ul1mYmB2R1I/AAAAAAAALYY/Kk9zg4tapww/s400/decaisneafargesiipodsandfruitP1170962.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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.<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...... and darker green above, but it's those fruits that make it special. It's hardy so I'm surprised it's not more widely planted. The colour of the pods is most vivid on sunny days, so must be partly due to the reflective properties of the pod surface, in addition to the underlying pigmentation. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The seeds are surrounded by a jelly-like pulp that's said to be edible but insipid.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Decaisnea fargesii</i> comes from western China </span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-41220037452635800012013-10-05T16:44:00.000+01:002013-10-05T16:44:06.989+01:00Colchicum autumnale, Meadow Saffron or Autumn Crocus, Colchicaceae <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FQjSGNuDVIE/SrP0t55IxSI/AAAAAAAABWk/UUWFUMF32LE/s1600/naked+ladies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FQjSGNuDVIE/SrP0t55IxSI/AAAAAAAABWk/UUWFUMF32LE/s640/naked+ladies.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meadow saffron, sometimes known as autumn crocus, also has
the rather salacious name of 'naked ladies' which supposedly stems from its
lack of leaves when the flowers appear in autumn; the leaves sprout in spring and wither away in summer.
The lilac flowers are very attractive to bees.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> This is a rare British native wild
plant and most specimens that turn up – like those above, beside a road in Weardale –
are garden escapes. To my mind they perform best when grown in grass
like those in the photograph; when they’re cultivated in bare soil the floral
tubes often grow very long and the flowers fall over in the autumn wind and
rain, but some surrounding grass gives them support.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LijdEQqawvE/Uk7CTbYjH-I/AAAAAAAALRY/S9jod4ZajkY/s1600/colchicumbudP1170640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LijdEQqawvE/Uk7CTbYjH-I/AAAAAAAALRY/S9jod4ZajkY/s640/colchicumbudP1170640.jpg" width="352" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S8ASEfexU5w/UlAtmx4xu9I/AAAAAAAALSY/CWAzmkSRggM/s1600/colchicumanthersP1170689.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S8ASEfexU5w/UlAtmx4xu9I/AAAAAAAALSY/CWAzmkSRggM/s400/colchicumanthersP1170689.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plant has a long history of cultivation and in 1776 the
botanist and doctor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Withering">William Withering</a>, writing in his <i>Botanical Arrangement of all the Vegetables Growing in Great Britain</i> mentioned that ‘<i>cultivation produces a great variety
of colours and makes the blossoms double</i>’.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In the wild meadow saffron was ruthlessly
eliminated because it’s extremely poisonous to grazing livestock, thanks to the
presence of toxic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colchicine">colchicine</a> in all parts of the plant. </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like many plant poisons colchicine has been used
medicinally, in very low doses, to treat gout. Benjamin Franklin, himself a
gout sufferer, is supposed to have introduced the plant to the United States for that very purpose.
There have been accidental fatalities with poisoning from either eating
the plant (its leaves resemble very lush wild garlic) or using it as herbal
medicine at lethal concentrations, so one wonders how many of those who followed William Withering’s
advice survived, when he wrote <i>‘This is one of those plants that upon the
concurrent testimony of ages was condemned as poisonous; but Dr. Storck of
Vienna hath taught us that it is a useful medicine. The roots have a good deal
of acrimony. An infusion of them in vinegar, formed into a syrop by the
addition of sugar or honey, is found to be a very useful pectoral and diuretic.
It seems in its virtues very much to resemble squill, but it is less nauseous
and less acrimonious</i>’.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Colchicine is used by plant breeders to double the number of
chromosomes in plants, because the drug allows the chromosomes to divide
without the cell they are in dividing, so doubling the number of chromosomes in
the cell - a phenomenon known as polyploidy. More chromosomes per cell tend to
produce larger cells and larger cells lead to larger plants and better crops. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All sorts of unnaturally large plants, ranging from strawberries
to hyacinths, have been bred using this long-standing form of genetic
manipulation, which has been in use for over a century. Crossing a colchicine-induced tetraploid, which has double the normal chromosone complement, with a diploid plant that has the normal complement of chromosomes produces plants called
triploids, with three sets of chromosomes per cell, which are seed- sterile – a
common breeding technique for producing seedless fruit such as bananas.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-50222772075494904982013-09-29T09:36:00.000+01:002013-09-29T09:36:23.006+01:00Violent Violas<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ySq9WjehNKE/UkcPAifE0lI/AAAAAAAALP0/oJYIfDibBno/s1600/violaP1170419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ySq9WjehNKE/UkcPAifE0lI/AAAAAAAALP0/oJYIfDibBno/s400/violaP1170419.jpg" width="331" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You'd never imagine that flowers with such 'cute little faces' could be capable of such violence ......</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NSmwr0FFtNw/UkcPFfRCVLI/AAAAAAAALQA/4e0lk0muOLg/s1600/violacapsuleP1170422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NSmwr0FFtNw/UkcPFfRCVLI/AAAAAAAALQA/4e0lk0muOLg/s400/violacapsuleP1170422.jpg" width="372" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">....... after the flowers of most members of the Violaceae, including violets, pansies and violas, have been pollinated the seeds develop inside a capsule .....</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UFpvtT6LOEA/UkcPFcP3GyI/AAAAAAAALP8/5c6_OUwEaA4/s1600/violadehiscedP1170499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UFpvtT6LOEA/UkcPFcP3GyI/AAAAAAAALP8/5c6_OUwEaA4/s400/violadehiscedP1170499.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...... which splits into three segments when it ripens, then as the walls of the split capsule segments dry out they curl inwards, squeezing the rows of slippery seeds .....</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xq5klqPKfu4/UkcPFT5sd_I/AAAAAAAALQU/FxSW5LbZQOY/s1600/violadehiscedP1170520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xq5klqPKfu4/UkcPFT5sd_I/AAAAAAAALQU/FxSW5LbZQOY/s400/violadehiscedP1170520.jpg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">....... until they fire them out, like a bar of soap slipping out of your wet hands in the shower.</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F8czNmGaKqI/UkcPFpB4pqI/AAAAAAAALQE/JKJZsrnALIg/s1600/violadehiscedP1170521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F8czNmGaKqI/UkcPFpB4pqI/AAAAAAAALQE/JKJZsrnALIg/s400/violadehiscedP1170521.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This photograph was taken a couple of seconds after the one above and during that time the capsule fired out three of the six seeds in that segment that points to 11 o'clock. Two of the seeds hit the lens filter with an audible ping and the third hit me square in the forehead.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No wonder 'volunteer' violas and violets germinate all over our garden.............</span></b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-12310397847314390492013-04-27T19:39:00.000+01:002013-04-27T19:39:06.562+01:00Beautiful buds<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the joys of spring is to watch buds develop and then burst - exquisite shapes with all the beauty of the flowers packaged within. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://digitalbotanicgarden.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Aloe%20variegata">Aloe variegata</a></i></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blackcurrant</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HVdnG1EHdXE/US8nxKN59nI/AAAAAAAAJB0/0NdYcAyFN0g/s1600/horsechestnutbudP1080639.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HVdnG1EHdXE/US8nxKN59nI/AAAAAAAAJB0/0NdYcAyFN0g/s400/horsechestnutbudP1080639.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YrWi8P-lqnU/US8nxMB9vmI/AAAAAAAAJB8/bmw9DEoI2Z0/s1600/horsechestnutP1080469.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YrWi8P-lqnU/US8nxMB9vmI/AAAAAAAAJB8/bmw9DEoI2Z0/s400/horsechestnutP1080469.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--rIJF-XXHgw/US-eppTvggI/AAAAAAAAJCY/z-oUbDM2A0Q/s1600/hyacinthbudP1080836.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--rIJF-XXHgw/US-eppTvggI/AAAAAAAAJCY/z-oUbDM2A0Q/s400/hyacinthbudP1080836.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hyacinth</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EVrOKXO0To/US-epoeKjmI/AAAAAAAAJCc/-x2KqIoJEs4/s1600/rhodobudP1080831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EVrOKXO0To/US-epoeKjmI/AAAAAAAAJCc/-x2KqIoJEs4/s400/rhodobudP1080831.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Rhododendron dauricum</i></span></b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LtQmrBgqT3s/UXqb6jAZEYI/AAAAAAAAJVE/RV0Yy9x3oho/s1600/erythroniumdenscanisbudP1100505.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LtQmrBgqT3s/UXqb6jAZEYI/AAAAAAAAJVE/RV0Yy9x3oho/s640/erythroniumdenscanisbudP1100505.jpg" width="366" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Erythronium</i> 'Pagoda'</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2XXPv_b6gY4/UXqb6opG32I/AAAAAAAAJVA/z4Q5wj8TpRU/s1600/marshmarigoldbudsP1100518.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2XXPv_b6gY4/UXqb6opG32I/AAAAAAAAJVA/z4Q5wj8TpRU/s640/marshmarigoldbudsP1100518.jpg" width="412" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marsh marigold <i>Caltha palustris</i></span></b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8BOqS3uoYto/UXwZ7uNSy3I/AAAAAAAAJVo/gkf8UZAhj98/s1600/ashflowerbudsP1100553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8BOqS3uoYto/UXwZ7uNSy3I/AAAAAAAAJVo/gkf8UZAhj98/s640/ashflowerbudsP1100553.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ash <i>Fraxinus excelsior</i> flower buds</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zTZpStDoH8E/UXwZ7nMT1hI/AAAAAAAAJVs/GJXvUYthExc/s1600/sycamorebudP1100593.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zTZpStDoH8E/UXwZ7nMT1hI/AAAAAAAAJVs/GJXvUYthExc/s640/sycamorebudP1100593.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-43481656483583648102013-04-18T17:04:00.000+01:002013-04-18T17:04:45.791+01:00Pasque flower, Pulsatilla vulgaris, Ranunculaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aUCuKBFwgCw/UWrOC8YnaLI/AAAAAAAAJRA/h01jk8aaWrY/s1600/pasqueflowerP1100079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aUCuKBFwgCw/UWrOC8YnaLI/AAAAAAAAJRA/h01jk8aaWrY/s400/pasqueflowerP1100079.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pasque flower usually flowers in our garden around Eastertide, but this year an early Easter and an exceptionally late spring means that the flowers are only just opening. I particularly like the covering of fine silky hairs that trap water droplets on misty mornings.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Owiu6akMOSc/UWrOC8uZ-OI/AAAAAAAAJRM/VN3f93H9UI8/s1600/pasqueflowerinteriorP1100090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Owiu6akMOSc/UWrOC8uZ-OI/AAAAAAAAJRM/VN3f93H9UI8/s400/pasqueflowerinteriorP1100090.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Pulsatilla vulgaris</i> is a rare and endangered species of calcareous grassland in England, now confined to just a few locations. Many of its old sites have been ploughed up. In the wild the plant often grows in nutrient-poor soils and is usually quite small, with only a couple of flowers, but cultivated varieties grown in better soil conditions are far more floriferous. The secret of long term cultivation seems to be to grow it in very well-drained soils in a sunny spot. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the flowers have finished the feathery seed heads stay attached to the plant for several weeks. I've found that the best way to grow the plants from seed is to sow them soon after they're ripe - stored seed has much poorer germination.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It think it's a charming plant, nicely summed up by William Robinson in <i>The English Flower Garden</i>: "<i>There are few sights more pleasant to the lover of spring flowers</i>", he wrote, "<i>than to see its purple blooms just showing through the hard grass on a bleak down on an early spring day</i>".</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-20594663298289959782013-03-12T10:24:00.000+00:002013-03-12T10:24:56.793+00:00Cyclamen hederifolium, Primulaceae<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was never a great fan of <i>Cyclamen</i> until I started buying this little beauty, <i>C.hederifolium</i>, as a winter house plant. It ticks all the boxes: attractive foliage; compact and very floriferous form; long-lasting (some that I bought back in December are still in bloom); sweetly scented (at least the white-flowered varieties are - I can't detect much scent in the darker pink and red varieties); and it's cheap - the nursery where I buy them sells them for £1 each. </span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N4Wd_PU62co/UQqiCoa7LzI/AAAAAAAAIzo/iOW_U9gDZ-w/s1600/cyclamenP1080305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N4Wd_PU62co/UQqiCoa7LzI/AAAAAAAAIzo/iOW_U9gDZ-w/s640/cyclamenP1080305.jpg" width="380" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JxQgi-YFytc/UQqiDLYrqmI/AAAAAAAAIzw/PkR1_huqNGY/s1600/cyclamenP1080312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JxQgi-YFytc/UQqiDLYrqmI/AAAAAAAAIzw/PkR1_huqNGY/s400/cyclamenP1080312.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KEONKO14lMg/UQqiEgQn5yI/AAAAAAAAIz4/jjyAcCtDmpw/s1600/cyclamenP1080307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KEONKO14lMg/UQqiEgQn5yI/AAAAAAAAIz4/jjyAcCtDmpw/s400/cyclamenP1080307.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One particularly attractive feature of <i>Cyclamen</i> is the shape of the flower buds, that are twisted like the swirl of a dancer's skirt.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Br465bEqO8I/UT32jKmZy0I/AAAAAAAAJDg/A9k4OeELH6Q/s1600/cyclamenP1080963.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Br465bEqO8I/UT32jKmZy0I/AAAAAAAAJDg/A9k4OeELH6Q/s640/cyclamenP1080963.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cq9O1JYvhKs/UQ1Cl6UQElI/AAAAAAAAI1U/xanNPs_30C8/s1600/cyclamenbudP1080373.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cq9O1JYvhKs/UQ1Cl6UQElI/AAAAAAAAI1U/xanNPs_30C8/s640/cyclamenbudP1080373.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only tricky thing about growing this little beauty is remembering not to over-water it. The densely packed leaves and flowers succumb to <i><a href="http://beyondthehumaneye.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Botrytis%20cinerea">Botrytis</a></i> at the stem bases if you do.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-56383156879148085532013-02-05T17:54:00.000+00:002013-02-05T17:54:07.906+00:00Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn', Adoxaceae<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The darkest days of winter in our garden have been brightened by the scented flowers of <i>Viburnum bodnantense</i> 'Dawn', which has been in bloom continuously since late November. The first flowers tend to be damaged by the worst of the winter weather but the recent ones, now it's a little milder, have a more intense colour. The twigs make good cut flowers for a small vase because the flowers are borne on their tips and open to perfection indoors.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>V. x bodnantense</i> is a hybrid between <i>V. farreri</i> and <i>V. grandiflorum</i>, raised at Bodnant in North Wales in 1935.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It used to be thought that <i>Viburnum</i> belonged to the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but recent molecular studies using DNA sequencing have shown it to be a member of the family Adoxaceae. Forty years ago, when I was a trainee botanist, the Adoxaceae was believed to contain just a single species, town-hall clock <i><a href="http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Adoxa%20moschatellina">Adoxa moschatellina</a></i> but, as is so often the case, molecular biology has revealed unsuspected phylogenetic relationships. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-81359868330842506322013-01-14T21:43:00.000+00:002013-01-14T21:43:38.749+00:00White Magic<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some snow adds a touch of magic to a botanic garden in winter. These pictures were taken today in Durham University Botanic Garden</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Rhododendron dauricum</i> and ..................</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">....<i>Mahonia x media</i> 'Charity'</span></b><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-25635861762087971052012-11-09T10:44:00.003+00:002012-11-09T10:44:19.192+00:00Kniphofia spp., Red-hot Poker, Xanthorrhoeaceae, sub-family Asphodeloidea<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qCcyMztBk5g/UD3neCx7u7I/AAAAAAAAG_A/7h2H1y9vZf8/s1600/kniphofia+2small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qCcyMztBk5g/UD3neCx7u7I/AAAAAAAAG_A/7h2H1y9vZf8/s640/kniphofia+2small.jpg" width="302" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It came as a surprise to me that red-hot pokers thrive in my garden here in North East England. If you look at the distribution map of the species, through Africa and Madagascar, with an outlier in Yemen, you'd imagine that heat and dry conditions are a requirement but when you look at the habitats occupied by many of the species - cooler, higher altitude sites - maybe it's not so surprising that they do well in my flower borders. This summer, which was cool and wet, seems to have suited them pretty well......</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.... especially this yellow-green flowered variety. I've lost its label but I think it might be 'Percy's Pride'. This plant produced 15 flower spikes and was in bloom for six weeks.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i9upW4XrBxo/UD3nfESBvLI/AAAAAAAAG_E/cQfGG2RGhGc/s1600/kniphofia+4small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i9upW4XrBxo/UD3nfESBvLI/AAAAAAAAG_E/cQfGG2RGhGc/s640/kniphofia+4small.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xf1KuZR_vRw/UD3ngZd_f_I/AAAAAAAAG_Q/n47LVn5aIvg/s1600/kniphophianorthumberlandsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xf1KuZR_vRw/UD3ngZd_f_I/AAAAAAAAG_Q/n47LVn5aIvg/s400/kniphophianorthumberlandsmall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best display of <i>Kniphofia uvaria</i> that I've ever see in Britain is this one, in the sand dunes on the Northumberland coast at Low Newton-by-the-sea where it is verging on becoming invasive They're not the conditions that would be easy to replicate in most gardens though.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oG6bmoh7Ty0/UIhLwuiQtxI/AAAAAAAAH4c/FhboZG7UJuo/s1600/peacockonkniphofiaDSC_0153_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oG6bmoh7Ty0/UIhLwuiQtxI/AAAAAAAAH4c/FhboZG7UJuo/s400/peacockonkniphofiaDSC_0153_edited-1.jpg" width="290" /></a></div>
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I<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'m always interested in the native insects that visit exotic flowers in British gardens. In its native habitats <i>Kniphofia</i> is pollinated by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbird">sunbirds</a> and each individual flower produces a large volume of nectar to attract these energetic pollinators. The nectar must trickle down those long, downward-pointing tubular flowers, because peacock butterflies seem to have no trouble in reaching it.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Access is more of a struggle for wasps, which will do almost anything to reach sweet nectar in autumn when they are no longer feeding their brood. This enterprising individual discovered that the easiest way to reach a reward was to chew a hole through the corolla ...... </span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vWrjYv_-Pf0/THwDUAfMZKI/AAAAAAAADLM/rWixi69gl8g/s1600/wasp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vWrjYv_-Pf0/THwDUAfMZKI/AAAAAAAADLM/rWixi69gl8g/s640/wasp.jpg" width="364" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...... while this one chose to do it the hard way, forcing its way into a flower that really evolved to accommodate a sunbird's long, slender, curved beak.</span></b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-87431581542476318262012-08-10T20:55:00.001+01:002012-08-10T20:55:45.689+01:00Masterwort, Astrantia maxima and A. major., Umbelliferae<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K7EGr7KD07Q/UAbiTWSYDGI/AAAAAAAAGUo/amfHOlyZDtE/s1600/astrantiaDSC_0459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K7EGr7KD07Q/UAbiTWSYDGI/AAAAAAAAGUo/amfHOlyZDtE/s400/astrantiaDSC_0459.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever since masterwort <i>Astrantia major</i> was introduced into British gardens in 1597, from its native central and eastern Europe, garden writers have been somewhat dismissive of the plant. William Robinson, in <i>The English Flower Garden</i> in 1883 was wary of its invasive tendencies ("<i>.... apt to over-run and exhaust the soil</i>") and suggested that "<i>if grown at all it should be in rough or wild places, or in the back part of the shrubbery</i>". </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the species in the picture above, <i>Astrantia maxima</i>, is rather more delicate and trickier to cultivate, so is unlikely to be invasive. It needs better, more moisture-retentive soil than <i>A. major</i>.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2LZ6yjXUb4w/UAvFDL9HjiI/AAAAAAAAGVM/C5n4tXe7sWo/s1600/astrantiaDSC_0464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="373" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2LZ6yjXUb4w/UAvFDL9HjiI/AAAAAAAAGVM/C5n4tXe7sWo/s400/astrantiaDSC_0464.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's easy to see why the more commonly cultivated <i>A. major</i> was sometimes known as 'hattie's pincushion" and why Graham Stuart Thomas, in his <i>Perennial Garden Plants</i> (1976) described the flowers as having "<i>...an interesting and beautiful shape</i>". . </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It isn't obvious that this is a member of the Umbelliferae but if you shrink that ring of papery bracts and elongate the pedicels that support the individual florets the result is a more obvious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbel">umbel</a>.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plant has a long flowering period, seems to do well in sun, shade and dry soil in my garden, makes an attractive long-stemmed addition to a bunch of cut flowers and, best of all, is an excellent source of pollen and nectar for .....</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jihl_KmsrkM/UAvFHMPiOFI/AAAAAAAAGVU/bgx8RvJBvPs/s1600/astrantiadroneflyDSC_0496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jihl_KmsrkM/UAvFHMPiOFI/AAAAAAAAGVU/bgx8RvJBvPs/s400/astrantiadroneflyDSC_0496.jpg" width="388" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... hoverflies ....</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p6DAKpQbj2Q/UAvFH7imo3I/AAAAAAAAGVc/TCY_q--_0UM/s1600/astrantiahoneybeeDSC_0465.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p6DAKpQbj2Q/UAvFH7imo3I/AAAAAAAAGVc/TCY_q--_0UM/s400/astrantiahoneybeeDSC_0465.jpg" width="367" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> ..... and bees, that merely need to walk over the inflorescence to collect their reward with minimum effort. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-22395760186709999902012-07-16T23:11:00.001+01:002012-07-17T20:49:01.956+01:00Monk'shood, Aconitum napellus, Ranunculaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<i>Helmet-fluore, or the great Monkes-hood, beareth very faire and goodly blew floures in a shape like a helmet; which are so beautifull, that a man would think they were of some excellent vertue, but non est semper fides habenda fronti </i>" wrote John Gerard in his herbal of 1597. And, indeed, appearances are not always to be trusted, because Gerard then went on to describe the dire consequences of eating this poisonous member of the buttercup family. "<i>The force and facultie of Wolfs-bane</i> [another common name for members of the monk'shood genus] <i>is deadly to man and all kindes of beasts .......The symptoms that do follow those that doe eat of these deadly herbs are these; their lips and tongue swell forthwith, their eyes hang out, their thighes are stiffe, and their wits are taken from them.</i>" </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But as long as you don't eat it, this is a fine plant for the herbaceous border, with the flowers of a violet-blue hue that's shared by wild columbine, another member of the same plant family.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gerard noted that the plant was also found in alpine meadows "<i>where you shall find the grasse that growth round it eaten by cattell, but no part of the herb it selfe touched, except by certain flies, who in such abundant measure swarme about the same that they cover the whole plant</i>". He then describes how a confection made from twenty of these flies that are immune to monk'shood's poison was an "<i>excellent remedy not only against the Aconites, but all other poisons whatsoever</i>".</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking at the rather sinister flowers from the side, it's easy to see where the names helmet-flower and monk'shood came from.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The nectaries of the flower are located way up inside the upper petal that forms the hood, where only long-tongued bees can reach it.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The flower is dependent on bumblebees for pollination and the strong bilateral symmetry of the flower means that they have to force their way in through this narrow opening, where they brush against the stamens and stigma as they struggle to reach the nectaries in the hood. The stamens ripen before the stigmas (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequential_hermaphroditism">protandry</a>) and in this picture you can see a couple whose anthers have burst, shed their pollen and whose stamen filaments have elongated. There are six more whose anthers have burst to release white pollen but whose stamen filaments haven't elongated, but the majority of the numerous anthers present have yet to release their pollen.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I've posted some photos of bumblebees visiting the flowers <a href="http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/bee-magnet.html">here</a>.</b></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-31329022797565878212012-07-06T21:17:00.000+01:002012-07-06T21:17:33.598+01:00Giant Fennel, Ferula communis, Umbelliferae<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've waited seven years for this.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in 2007 I bought a small plant of giant fennel <i>Ferula communis</i>, when I was mainly attracted by its delightful, ferny, four-pinnate foliage but also tempted by the promise of a giant inflorescence.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every year since then it has produced a few magnificent leaves, almost a metre across, but has never showed any sign of flowering. Finally it has summoned up the energy to perform, which is remarkable on two counts. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly, this is a plant from dry, rocky places in the Mediterranean - in countries like Greece - and this is cold, rainy Durham in northern England, in the grip of the wettest summer on record. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is its natural habitat (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ferula_communis2.jpg">image source</a>) </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secondly, according to Marjorie Blamey and Christopher Grey-Wilson's <i>Mediterranean Wild Flowers</i>:</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>'The stems becomes hard and woody on drying ..... the pith, when dry, burns slowly inside the stem and can be carried alight - it may well have been the original Olympic torch'.</i></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, of course, this is the year when the Olympics come to Britain. Nice timing!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.diomedes-bg.uoa.gr/istorika-en.html">Other sources</a> claim that the stems were used by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus">Prometheus</a> when he stole fire from the gods on Mount Olympus and gave it to humans.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stem is robust - and has been used for making furniture, apparently - and the leaf bases sheath the stem in this very distinctive manner.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The inflorescence finally finished elongating when it was close to three metres tall ....</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wVlhhQk_BbI/T_c_c_aj4VI/AAAAAAAAGOE/73cCnZMFxUw/s1600/fennelinflorescenceDSC_0350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wVlhhQk_BbI/T_c_c_aj4VI/AAAAAAAAGOE/73cCnZMFxUw/s400/fennelinflorescenceDSC_0350.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...... then its yellow umbels bloomed. The only way to photograph these is from the upstairs bedroom window......</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">........... although they do look attractive from below, against the sky.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's also a very good 'bee-plant' attracting a constant procession of bumblebee visitors to these umbels, each of which is as big as my fist.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Worth waiting for!</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Giant fennel is monocarpic and the plant will die after flowering, but I'm tempted to try that stem as a home-made Olympic torch....</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-67747692560238158222012-06-10T20:40:00.000+01:002012-06-10T20:40:32.657+01:00Lupin, Lupinus spp., Fabaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">June is the peak month for lupin flowers, although they don't seem to be such popular border plants as they once were. </span></b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OsumdUxRhn4/T9PJjt4PL3I/AAAAAAAAGAI/ernF-Hn6SDk/s1600/lupins+chichester.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OsumdUxRhn4/T9PJjt4PL3I/AAAAAAAAGAI/ernF-Hn6SDk/s400/lupins+chichester.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have a family connection with lupin growing because in the 1920s my grandmother worked in Drayton Manor nursery, near Chichester in West Sussex, that specialised in growing <i>Lupinus polyphyllus</i> as a cut flower. This is a photo from the nursery catalogue, although the lady isn't my grandmother. The fields of flowers must have looked spectacular and I can remember as a child seeing feral descendants of these plants growing on the edge of gravel pits where the nursery once stood, and seeing them in Gran's garden. The sweet peppery scent of their flowers always triggers recollections of these stately blooms, with bees working their way methodically around and up each flower spike before moving on to the next.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupinus_polyphyllus">Lupinus polyphyllus</a></i>, which is naturally blue-flowered, was introduced from North America by the plant collector <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Douglas">David Douglas</a> in the 1820s and soon became a popular subject for the herbaceous border, which it graced until the Yorkshire gardener George Russell decided to try to produce plants with denser flower spikes in a wider range of colours.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iTRAvZucv_Q/T9JraDqW0lI/AAAAAAAAF8A/uaTwYji3evY/s1600/lupinIMGP4265.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iTRAvZucv_Q/T9JraDqW0lI/AAAAAAAAF8A/uaTwYji3evY/s400/lupinIMGP4265.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beginning just before the First World War, Russell grew thousands of lupins on his allotment and ruthlessly eliminated any that he thought sub-standard, favouring bi-coloured forms with closely spaced whorls of flowers on the flower spike. By the late 1930s he'd produced his famous Russell lupin strain and with the help of nurseryman James Baker propagated the best forms commercially from cuttings. The plants were a sensation at the 1937 <a href="http://www.rhs.org.uk/">Royal Horticuultural Society</a> Chelsea Flower Show and Russell, at the age of 79, became famous, receiving an MBE and the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal for his efforts. He lived on until 1951, dying at the age of 94. Plant breeders do seem to live to a grand old age; perhaps it's the determination to see how seedlings from last year's cross pollinations will perform.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J-4K-b7HF0Q/T9JrdjbeefI/AAAAAAAAF8I/rL2g8qIqO6M/s1600/lupinfloweruntrippedIMGP4272.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J-4K-b7HF0Q/T9JrdjbeefI/AAAAAAAAF8I/rL2g8qIqO6M/s400/lupinfloweruntrippedIMGP4272.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Russell probably intercrossed <i>L. polyphyllus</i> with other species (possibly with tree lupin and the annual <i>L. nootkatensis</i>) although we can't be sure because no pedigrees of cross pollinations were kept. It seems likely that he probably let bees do the intercrossing for him.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For anyone with space enough to grow the plants, breeding lupins can be rewarding , as the seedlings flower in the year after sowing. Crossing involves carefully emasculating the flowers while they were still in bud, by carefully opening the buds and removing the stamens before they can shed pollen and then, after a delay while the flower develops and the stigma matures, cross pollinating the stigma with pollen from another individual, or even another species which may or may not produce a viable hybrid seed. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lupin flowers, like most legumes, have a distinctive and instantly recognisable flower morphology, with a prominent standard petal at the top and a folded keel petal, enveloping the stamens and the stigma, that's flanked by a wing petal on either side.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G4tOQl6z_DU/T9JrhM9Lu9I/AAAAAAAAF8Q/sG_X6NryYoU/s1600/lupinflowertrippedIMGP4268.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G4tOQl6z_DU/T9JrhM9Lu9I/AAAAAAAAF8Q/sG_X6NryYoU/s400/lupinflowertrippedIMGP4268.jpg" width="327" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can always spot a lupin flower that has been 'tripped' by visiting bees because their weight forces down the wing petals so the pointed tip of the keel petal protrudes.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W5w-84AJR1U/T9Jrj0ddq3I/AAAAAAAAF8Y/RlKrSTI8-RA/s1600/lupinpollenIMGP4270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W5w-84AJR1U/T9Jrj0ddq3I/AAAAAAAAF8Y/RlKrSTI8-RA/s640/lupinpollenIMGP4270.jpg" width="406" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the bee's visit the keel petal is pushed downwards so the stigma at the tip of its long style is forced up through the end of the keel, sweeping a plug of pollen from the anthers before it and onto the underside of the bee. You can see the pollen as the yellow deposit on the tip of the keel petal and on the stigma in this photograph. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plentiful pollen makes lupin flowers very attractive to bumblebees, so emasculated, cross pollinated flowers need to be covered to keep bees away until seed has set.</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YE-2-DPGvGA/T9O9QCQZJbI/AAAAAAAAF_U/esDxRLl31Do/s1600/lupinusmutabilissmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YE-2-DPGvGA/T9O9QCQZJbI/AAAAAAAAF_U/esDxRLl31Do/s640/lupinusmutabilissmall.jpg" width="342" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most interesting lupin species that I've grown is this one - <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupinus_mutabilis">Lupinus mutabilis</a></i>. It's an annual that comes from South America, where it's known as tarwi and is said to have been cultivated as a food crop by the Incas. It's seeds have very high levels of protein (40%+) and lipid (20%+) but from the horticultural point of view it's the colour and fragrance of the flowers that appeal. It's easy enough to grow provided you don't attempt to transplant it. It never recovers from the slightest root disturbance, so you either need to raise it in pots as a conservatory plant or sow it in the garden where you want it to flower.</span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-58219703128813096072012-05-01T21:35:00.002+01:002012-05-01T21:35:18.179+01:00Prickly pear, Opuntia macrocentra, Cactaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A large prickly pear cactus, like this <i>Opuntia macrocentra</i> that comes from the Pecos region of Texas, is a thing of beauty when in full flower - although those long sharp spines can also inflict acute pain. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These magnificent flowers only last for a day and change colour to a more orange hue after pollination, which is apparently performed by bees. You can read an account of the pollination ecology of the plant <a href="http://2002.botanyconference.org/section3/abstracts/14.shtml">here</a>.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The fruits that form after pollination are edible in some species of <i>Opuntia</i>, notably <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia_ficus-indica">O. ficus-indica</a></i>, and marketed commercially as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia">tunas</a> that are popular in Mexico and occasionally appear on British supermarket shelves.</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stamens shed pollen soon after the flowers open in the morning but the stigma only becomes receptive in the afternoon and must be cross pollinated with pollen from a different individual plant before the flower will set seeds. The stamens are touch-sensitive, curling towards the stigma if you give them a gentle poke, mimicking the action of a visiting bee.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flattened, jointed, photosynthetic stems called <a href="http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/generalbotany/typesofshoots/cladode/index.html">cladodes</a> take over the function of leaves in prickly pears and most species defend themselves with long, sharp spines against grazing animals. These often have clusters of tiny, barbed hairs called glochids around their base and these are acutely irritating if the stick in soft flesh - like lips, for example. In a few species, like ...</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...... this <i>O.rufida</i> the long spines are entirely replaced by vast numbers of glochids arranged in dense clusters called areoles. The glochids are ....</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... easily detached and break off at the slightest touch, so gently brushing against one of these glochid-covered cladodes can be a very unpleasant experience. For a really close look at these nasty microscopic harpoons, <a href="http://beyondthehumaneye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/plant-harpoons.html">click here.</a></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both species illustrated here are growing in the desert house in Durham University Botanic Garden.</span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-33985331276807490072012-03-30T21:35:00.002+01:002012-03-30T21:35:44.196+01:00Magnolia stellata, Magnoliaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tzaBsN34RWI/T3X4C8na-HI/AAAAAAAAFi4/8y0hF92RTWk/s1600/magnoliastellataIMGP3637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tzaBsN34RWI/T3X4C8na-HI/AAAAAAAAFi4/8y0hF92RTWk/s400/magnoliastellataIMGP3637.jpg" width="397" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we had enough space in our back garden I would plant one of the large flowered, tree-sized <i>Magnolia</i> species or hybrids - probably <i>M. x soulangeana</i> - but we only have room for the Star Magnolia, <i>M. stellata</i> which comes from Japan and produces many fine flowers on a relatively compact plant. It's the earliest-flowering magnolia and the weather here over the last week, which has been unremittingly warm and sunny, has been kind to the 15 year-old specimen in garden. In a couple more days it will be at its best, but four days from now</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> temperatures are forecast to plummet, with maybe even some snow, so the current pristine display of flowers will probably suffer from some frost damage by the middle of next week and those pure white tepals will be scarred with brown patches. </span></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O5LC1rNUOrk/T3X_EbdSoaI/AAAAAAAAFjQ/mWaQdMEGbT8/s1600/magnoliabud1DSC_0139.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O5LC1rNUOrk/T3X_EbdSoaI/AAAAAAAAFjQ/mWaQdMEGbT8/s640/magnoliabud1DSC_0139.jpg" width="347" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of the pleasure from growing this plant comes from watching the attractive furry flower buds swell, bringing a growing sense of expectation. When the bud scales part and the pink tepals begin to force their way out, you know that spring is gathering pace.......... but anticipation is tempered by the knowledge that spring can be fickle. It looks like this year's display of starry flowers will be short-lived...... but spectacular while it lasts.</span></b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-10150498815350675952012-03-25T12:02:00.000+01:002012-03-25T12:02:10.434+01:00Garden Seats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Long ago I promised myself that the next garden I have will be designed around the seating. Before I do anything else I'll identify the places that provide the best morning, afternoon and evening viewpoints and choose some comfortable seats where I'll be able to rest my weary limbs and admire my handiwork over a glass (or two) of wine. But generally speaking garden seating tends to be designed for looking at rather than sitting on and is often excruciatingly uncomfortable, unless you carry a pile of cushions around with you. Here are four attractive seats that are fine for a Digital Botanic Garden, but not much good for sitting on for any length of time. </span></b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XcG6cLcsd9o/T24Wlzs_WEI/AAAAAAAAFgw/IQoVFrcsBPw/s1600/fern+seat+2small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XcG6cLcsd9o/T24Wlzs_WEI/AAAAAAAAFgw/IQoVFrcsBPw/s400/fern+seat+2small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edwardian cast iron fern seat - lovely to look at but cold and very uncomfortable...</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vF_svfr6goQ/T24WnLv_YpI/AAAAAAAAFg4/M2sPKndV_go/s1600/lichen+seatsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vF_svfr6goQ/T24WnLv_YpI/AAAAAAAAFg4/M2sPKndV_go/s400/lichen+seatsmall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... lichen covered bench - obviously the gardener here was always far too busy to sit down.....but the seat really adds character and maturity to a garden.... </span></b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1_Qny6lOjY4/T24WoTEtYRI/AAAAAAAAFhA/Y98uMKs-n6g/s1600/wheelbarrowseatsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1_Qny6lOjY4/T24WoTEtYRI/AAAAAAAAFhA/Y98uMKs-n6g/s400/wheelbarrowseatsmall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> .... follow the sun - wheel this one around your extensive acres in search of the best place to linger ... but not for too long on its hard wooden surfaces...</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NR5RJ80h5dg/T24WpSRMCdI/AAAAAAAAFhI/-yD7xTmacrc/s1600/wistariaseatsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NR5RJ80h5dg/T24WpSRMCdI/AAAAAAAAFhI/-yD7xTmacrc/s400/wistariaseatsmall.jpg" width="305" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.... and a painfully intricate creation in cast iron, in a sun-trap surrounded by <i>Caenothus</i> and <i>Wistaria</i>....</span></b><br />
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-44051978030490798322012-03-20T09:46:00.003+00:002012-03-20T09:46:37.080+00:00Azara microphylla, Box-leaved azara, Salicaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-odNEVDjnB_M/T2hJMQJt5DI/AAAAAAAAFfA/WdQiCFkQEas/s1600/azaraDSC_0057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="337" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-odNEVDjnB_M/T2hJMQJt5DI/AAAAAAAAFfA/WdQiCFkQEas/s400/azaraDSC_0057.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For most of the year <i>Azara microphylla</i> isn't a very impressive plant - just a rather straggly shrub with masses of small, glossy leaves - but for a couple of weeks in spring it reveals a rather delicious attribute: a powerful aroma of chocolate. It produces clusters of small golden stamens from the beginning of March onwards and when I opened our back door this morning (which is the day of the vernal equinox - the first day of spring) I was greeted by the chocolate scent that the <i>Azara</i> that's trained against the wall was releasing in the early morning sun.</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TVmbaemU2FM/T2hJOLGyEVI/AAAAAAAAFfE/zg4lu3x9Jhw/s1600/azaraDSC_0083.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TVmbaemU2FM/T2hJOLGyEVI/AAAAAAAAFfE/zg4lu3x9Jhw/s640/azaraDSC_0083.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The precise perception of scent is a personal attribute and I know some people who find that, to them, it smells of chocolate. Scents are often closely interwoven with memory and to me the aroma is reminiscent of the smell of a brand of chocolate called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramac">Caramac</a> that I was very partial to in my youth.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are a chocoholic gardener you can find information on cultivating <i>Azara</i>, which can become a small tree, <a href="http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=2144">here</a> and you can find more photographs <a href="http://www.fobbg.co.uk/Azara.html">here</a>. Sadly the web is useless for conveying scents but if you can locate a bar of Caramac you'll see what I mean about the aroma .....</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a native of Chile.</span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-3214504925177849302012-03-16T17:30:00.002+00:002012-03-16T17:30:52.347+00:00Rhododendron dauricum, Ericaceae<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not a great fan of some of the overblown garden hybrid Rhododendrons but <i>Rhododendron dauricum</i> is always a welcome sight. It's an early bloomer - not surprising when you look at its natural geographical distribution, across northern Russia, China and Japan - and it has been flowering in my garden since the beginning of March.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact that it flowers on almost bare twigs enhances its beauty and no doubt ...</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.... makes it more conspicuous to the first queen bees that emerge in spring from hibernation to collect nectar from the flowers. This Rhododendron species and many others in the genus have a particularly unusual way of dispensing pollen to visiting insects.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In many plants the anthers at the tip of the stamens simply burst open and expose all their pollen at once, but <i>R.dauricum</i> anthers dehisce through a small pore at the tip - which you can see clearly in the lower-most anther in this picture. The buzz of bees visiting the flowers makes the stamen filaments vibrate with a similarly high frequency, shaking pollen out of the pore a little at a time - which is an economical way of distributing the available pollen to as many bumblebee visitors as possible during the long flowering period in spring.</span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-33135403193234313242012-03-10T17:30:00.002+00:002012-03-10T17:30:25.129+00:00Congo Cockatoo, Impatiens niamniamensis,Balsaminaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flowers don't come much gaudier than this - primary colours straight out of a child's paintbox. It reminds me of some of the more lurid boiled sweets I used to buy in the sweetshop on my way home from school.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Impatiens niamniamensis</i> comes from tropical Africa, from montane regions of Cameroon, extending through central and East Africa where it's used medicinally to treat migraines and painful joints. It makes a spectacular house plant, with one significant drawback - it seems to be extremely susceptible to pests like whitefly and red spider. The only way I've been able to cultivate it for any length of time without it resembling the contents of Pandora's box is to frequently root new plants from clean cuttings.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The flower has a very long, curled nectar spur and I've found a few sources that suggest that it's pollinated by birds - bright red flowers are often associated with bird pollination.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A big specimen in full flower makes a fine spectacle, resembling a tree full of parrots. There was a time, when I set out in gardening, when I was primarily interested in species with subtle, muted colours but these days I'm increasingly drawn to flowers whose colours are so hot you could warm your hands on them; maybe it's a symptom of advancing years..........</span></b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-26004390978864937342012-03-06T15:39:00.000+00:002012-03-06T15:39:47.410+00:00Woad, Isatis tinctoria, Brassicaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About twenty years ago I fancied trying my hand at dyeing ..... and where better to start than with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye">indigo</a> extracted from woad? The woad seeds germinated well, the plants (which are biennial) flourished but somewhere along the line I lost enthusiasm for the enterprise - perhaps when I realised how much woad I'd need to grow to produce a worthwhile amount of dye and what a messy business it would be. You can find a description of the whole process <a href="http://www.woad.org.uk/html/extraction.html">here</a>.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> So the plants ran to seed, after producing a spectacular display of small flowers that were very popular with hoverflies. Even today, two decades later, occasional seedlings from those original plants appear in the garden so my redundant woad crop must have left a persistent seed bank.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Woad has been used as a source of blue dye since ancient times (for a detailed account <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isatis_tinctoria">click here</a>) but was superseded by true indigo <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigofera_tinctoria">Indigofera tinctoria</a> </i>which in turn was replaced by modern synthetic indigo dyes.</span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4754329432295403783.post-50191530195607489212012-02-15T15:19:00.001+00:002012-02-15T15:19:37.705+00:00Fritillaria michailovskyi, Liliaceae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are over 100 species of <i>Fritillaria</i> and I think this one, <i>F. michailovski</i>, was the first I ever encountered, in the alpine house at the RHS Garden at Wisley, about 50 years ago. There was something about the weird colour combination and art deco lampshade form of the flowers that really appealed to me but it was another 40 years before I got around to growing it for myself. These days the bulbs are more easily available and considerably cheaper than they were half a century ago. The species comes from the high mountains of North East Turkey and performs best if it's grown in an alpine house, in a pan of free draining compost topped with grit.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <i>F. michailovskyi</i> is one of the smaller species in the genus and this is the largest, the well-known, 1.5m. tall crown imperial <i>F. imperialis</i>, whose regal appearance is somewhat undermined by its unpleasant foxy smell. This unfortunate aroma may be the source of the belief that the plant repels mice and moles, that presumably think they are in the presence of a sharpd-toothed predator when they smell the plant. There does seem to be some evidence that the plant repels deer, that reputedly avoid it, and some recent biochemical analysis of the plant's nectar has identified the evil-smelling compound responsible as 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol, which I imagine could be the basis for a deer repellent if the effect is as strong as some people claim. Crown imperials grow wild in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Kashmir.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Robinson_(gardener)">William Robinson</a>, in his celebrated <i>The English Flower Garden</i>, commented that most fritillaries have "<i>dull tinted curiously interesting flowers</i>" and that is particularly true of <i>F.camschatcensis</i> from Japan, Kamchatka and Eastern Siberia. In some forms of this plant the flowers are almost black but their other striking feature is a stench that is said to be truly disgusting. It's a plant for humus-rich soil in light woodland shade. Apparently the bulb is edible and is said to taste like roast chestnuts but I wouldn't be tempted to risk it since several <i>Fritillaria</i> species are known to contain physiologically active substances or are downright poisonous, including ....</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... the familiar snake's head fritillary, <i>F. meleagris</i>. Like all fritillaries that I have ever grown this is an extravagant producer of nectar and is very popular with bumblebees when it flowers in my garden in late April. I've been growing it for about 20 years and it now seeds itself around the garden, often in unexpected places, but one of the best ways to grow it is in grass, as William Robinson recommended back in 1883: "<i>It grows freely in grass not mown early</i>", he wrote," <i>and is therefore admirable for the wild garden; its various forms are amongst the most beautiful inhabitants of the hardy bulb garden, and tufts of the chequered or white-flowered variety are amongst the most graceful plants in cottage gardens</i>".</span></b></div>
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