Phytologikos

Plant of the Day

Thursday 23 January 2020

Grown by many Ethiopian farmers as a staple crop Ensete ventricosum (enset, Ethiopian banana, Abyssinian banana, false banana) has over 300 varieties. This plant is principally grown as a starchy food but also as a source of fibres. The leaves can be used as plates, provide fibrous ‘wet wipes’, be processed as a food called kocho fermented from the leaf stalks (15 days fermenting above the ground and 15 days under the ground) with addition herbs and as bulla eaten as a porridge. In the U.K. ornamental varieties of this species are used to add an exotic foliage effect to plantings in the summer.

Eucalyptus macrocarpa

It felt like a return to the Good Old Days to have this plant flower this year. Our former specimen was killed in a severe freeze in December 1990, and this is our first flower since then. It is not a typical eucalyptus, since it is a shrub rather than a tree, and it is a bit awkward as a garden subject, with its gangly braches, but we treasure it for its bluish-white leaves and its huge red flowers. Native to Western Australia.

Plant of the Day

Saturday 25 May 2019

Vriesea are bromeliads native to Central and South America. Within the Vriesea genus there are hundreds of different species and cultivars. This display at the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Show, London, gave a glimpse of the amazing range of foliage patterns.

In addition to looking stunning in the new year, hellebores have interesting ways of attracting the few pollinators that are out of hibernation so early-on.

Research has shown that the nectar of hellebores contains natural yeast which, as it degrades, releases heat and a pungent aroma (exactly like the composting process). Due to the drooping cup-like structure of the plant’s sepals, this creates a microenvironment of humidity and strong odours. Both of these features are alluring to any pollinators during the winter months, giving hellebores the edge over less equipped early-flowerers. The best example of this kind of Hellebore is H. foetidus (of which photos will appear on this blog next month).

Disocactus flagelliformis or the Rattail Cactus is so named because of its whip-like or flagellated “tails”.

It belongs to the cactus family (Cactaceae) and originates from South America where it would grow epiphytically or lithophytically dependant on its surroundings.

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 9 April 2019

A container display of Muscari (grape hyacinth) species and cultivars at Great Dixter, Sussex, provided waves of blue and white flowers. They included Muscari ‘White Beauty’, Muscari 'Sky Blue’ and the deep blue Muscari latifolium (broad-leaved grape hyacinth).

This is a variegated cultivar of Ficus elastica (otherwise known as the rubber plant). Its stunning multicoloured foliage is a result of a mutation that has been encouraged over the years by plant breeders.

Ficus elastica belongs to the Moraceae (the fig family), can be found throughout Asia and has been introduced to many other tropical regions, such as Hawaii and the West Indies. As with all figs, elastica requires a fig wasp to pollinate it by entering its fruit to reach the flower held within, lay its eggs inside and then die. The offspring will then hatch, the males will fertilize the females and then leave together via the hole their mother originally created, laden with pollen in search of other figs.