Notice

Colin Mills, compiler of the Hortus Camdenensis, died in late November 2012 after a short illness. As he always considered the Hortus his legacy, it is his family's intention to keep the site running in perpetuity. It will not, however, be updated in the near future.

Luculia pinceana Hook.

Tender evergreen shrub with lance-shaped leaves and very fragrant creamy white flowers, tinged pink in summer.  To 1.8m.  [RHSD].

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘It is with no ordinary pleasure, that we are able to present our readers with one of the most lovely and most fragrant plants that it has been our lot to publish in any of our volumes.  Much deserved praise was bestowed on the Luculia gratissima […] but it may be said, without diminishing aught from that species, that the present far excels it, no less in the size and delicacy of its flowers, than in their powerful, yet agreeable fragrance. […] It was raised from seeds received from Nepal by Mr. Pince, (to whom the Royal Gardens are indebted for a plant,) at his Nursery, Exeter, and is cultivated in the greenhouse.  I may observe, that the specimen, figured here, is but a portion of the great compound cyme that was sent, and which would have required a folio plate to render it adequate justice.’  [BM t.4132/1845].  Introduced to Britain in 1843.  [PD].

History at Camden Park

Included among desiderata in a letter to James Backhouse dated 10th April 1846 [MP A2933-1, p.136] and again requested of Backhouse on 1st February, 1849 [MP A2933-1, p.183].  It was included in desiderata to Loddiges’ nursery of 16th April 1846 [MP A2933-1, p.147], 13th February, 1848 [MP A2933-1, p.172] and 1st February, 1849 [MP A2933-1, p.185].  It was also requested of John Lindley on 15th February 1848 [A2933-1, p.157] and Kew around the same time [REF] and again on 1st February, 1849 [MP A2933-1, p.177].  On none of these occasions was the plant recorded as ‘arrived’ on Macarthur’s copies although it seems likely that such perseverance would have yielded a positive result.

Notes

Published Feb 08, 2010 - 03:41 PM | Last updated Feb 08, 2010 - 03:46 PM

Figured are oblong, pointed leaves and terminal corymb of pale pink flowers.  Curtis's Botanical Magazine t.4132, 1845.

Luculia pinceana Hook. | BM t.4132/1845 | BHL

Family Rubiaceae
Category
Region of origin

Nepal

Synonyms
Common Name
Name in the Camden Park Record

Luculia Pinceana 

Confidence level high