Download WHS Plant Notes for April 2015 Brunfelsia pauciflora (Solanaceae

WHS Plant Notes for April 2015 Brunfelsia pauciflora (Solanaceae) Yesterday Today and Tomorrow
Grown by Judy Wong in Menlo Park: This is a beautiful, dense shrub with glossy, dark green leaves. It can eventually become about 10
ft tall and 12 ft wide, or it can be kept much smaller with pruning. Its 2-in.-wide flowers are deep
purple when they first bloom and then transition through increasingly lighter shades until they
are pure white. Through spring and into summer they cover the shrub in a sweetly fragrant,
spectacular display with all the colors mingled together. It may bloom sporadically the rest of the
year. This is a tropical shrub that’s endemic to woodlands of Brazil. It prefers a part shade
location with protection from hot sun but will accept full sun or bright shade. It needs regular
irrigation and is best in rich soil with a liberal amount of organic matter. Plant it where an azalea
or hydrangea would be happy. It’s an excellent choice for a large container. It’s fine with light
frosts and will be evergreen in mild winters.
Chionanthus retusus (Oleaceae) Chinese Fringe Tree
Grown by Janet Hoffmann in Campbell: This is an elegant, small tree that's native to Korea, Japan and southeastern China where it grows
along rivers in mixed forests. In landscapes, it usually develops multiple trunks and matures to
about 20 ft tall with a rounded crown of very pretty, glossy dark green, oval leaves about 4 in.
long. It can be trained as a single-trunked tree and sometimes a plant will take that form on its
own. It's reputed to be slow growing, less than a foot a year, but can be faster when young. Seedgrown plants sometimes take 10 years to bloom but it’s worth the wait. For a few weeks in
spring, it puts on an amazing floral show covering its canopy with lacy panicles of pure white,
delicately fragrant flowers. In early fall, if there's a male tree in the vicinity, females produce
dark blue-purple, olive-like fruits that are very attractive to birds. Trees of both sexes will
produce some bisexual flowers so a smattering of fruits may develop on males. It goes deciduous
in winter showing off its graceful form and, on young trees, beautiful flaking bark. This is an
adaptable tree accepting sun or part shade and any reasonable soil, including slightly alkaline. It
can be somewhat tolerant of drought once it’s established, but does much better with regular
irrigation and is a good choice for a lawn tree. It requires little to no pruning and is relatively pest
free. All members of this plant family have very allergenic pollen. Unfortunately for those of us
with allergies to tree pollens, the sex of fringe trees sold in nurseries is rarely known so you can’t
know if you’re buying a fruit producing female or a pollen producing male that will make you
miserable. But we can admire them in other people's gardens as we drive by with the windows
rolled up.
Chrysanthemum coronarium (Asteraceae) Crown Daisy, Edible Chrysanthemum, Shungiku
Grown by Patricia Larenas in Mountain View: The new botanical name for this plant is Glebionis coronaria. It is an annual chrysanthemum that
may have started out in the Mediterranean and spread to Asia or vice versa. It grows wild and has
been cultivated and used as a leaf vegetable for hundreds of years in both regions. Plants are
erect and branching to about 3 to 4 ft tall and about half as wide with coarsely lobed, mid-green
leaves. The flower are about 2 in. across with yellow disk flowers surrounded by ray flowers that
may be all yellow or cream with yellow bases. The leaves and young stems are used in cooking,
especially in Asian cuisines. They’re put in stews and soups for flavoring, added to stir-fry,
cooked alone as a side dish, and eaten raw in salads. It’s said to have a distinct, tangy flavor that
is pleasantly mild in young plants, becoming stronger in mature plants and very bitter after plants
start to flower. The ray flowers are also used as garnish for soups and salads. Chrysanthemum tea
is made from the flowers and flower buds. It’s a cool-season vegetable. Treat it as you would leaf
lettuce or kale. Begin successive seedings in autumn to harvest all winter and spring. Eriobotrya japonica (Rosaceae) Loquat, Japanese Plum
Grown by Katie Wong in San Jose: As a little preview of next month’s program, Katie brought loquats from a couple of trees that
she started about 30 years ago from seeds she got at California Rare Fruit Growers. One came
from a tree with huge fruit about twice the size of most loquats and the other from one with
particularly sweet fruit. Her seedlings actually grew up to have the exceptional traits of their
parents and are about 25 ft tall now. Katie just has the touch. Loquats are native to southeastern
China and maybe to southern Japan. Whether a native or an introduction from China, it has been
cultivated in Japan for more than 1000 years. It was introduced to the rest of the world beginning
in the early 1700s and spread rapidly arriving in California by the mid-1800s. There were
attempts to grow them as a commercial crop and many varieties were developed. It’s a small tree
to about 20 to 25 feet tall with a rounded canopy of handsome, dark green leaves up to 12 in.
long that grow in whorls at the branch tips. It flowers in fall producing large, dense panicles of
small, white flowers that are sweetly fragrant. Clusters of nearly round, golden yellow, sweet
fruits follow. They begin to ripen in April for us. If winter temperatures drop to the mid 20s, the
flowers and/or fruit can be damaged or killed. The trees are grown purely for their ornamental
value in areas with winters too cold to ever get fruit. They take full sun to part shade and any soil
as long as it’s well-drained. They will tolerate dry conditions but need average to moderate water
for good fruit. Fasciated stem of Cotinus coggygria
Grown by Judy Wong in Menlo Park: Judy found a single flattened, or fasciated, flowering stem on her smoke bush. This happens
when something disturbs the normal spherical symmetry of a meristem, that special group of
cells that is responsible for forming new tissue at a plant’s growing tip. Fasciation can occur in
roots, stems, flowers or fruits. We’re probably most accustomed to seeing it in succulents and
ferns where it’s called cresting or cristation. Some plants like celosia and peas can carry a
recessive gene for fasciation and pass along the trait in their seeds. It was one of the traits that
Mendel followed in his peas when he laid the foundation for the science of genetics. But
fasciation is usually a random event and a wide range of factors have been linked to its
occurrence. These include infection by certain microorganisms, somatic mutation, insect
damage, chemical or physical damage, rapid temperature swings, nutrient deficiency and a host
of other possible agents. It is interesting that, although fasciation has been recorded in hundreds
of plant species, some species appear to be particularly susceptible but it is never seen in others.
Randia ruiziana (Rubiaceae) Angel of the Night
Grown by Daxin Liu in Mountain View: This plant has also had a name change. Rosenbergiodendron longiflorum is its accepted botanical
name. It’s a small shrub that’s native to tropical forests of northern South America where it’s
usually found growing along rivers and streams. Daxin got a cutting-sized plant from Logee’s
four years ago. It has bloomed for the first time this year and he sacrificed one and brought it to
us. They are soft white with 5 narrowly triangular petals, each about 3 in. long, surrounding the
mouth of its 5- to 8-in.-long, very slender throat. They do a little pinwheel jog at the mouth and
then arch or reflex away. They have a wonderful, strong fragrance that is said to be very long
lasting. The flower’s texture and fragrance remind you that it is a gardenia relative. It blooms in
winter but is reported to bloom year round in its native range. The shrub is evergreen with glossy
mid-green leaves and an open branching habit. It will grow about 3 to 4 ft tall and wide in a
container. It prefers part sun to bright shade and does well as a houseplant. It is cold sensitive and
will need winter protection.
Jackie Doda