Achimenes longiflora ‘Major’
See Achimenes longiflora DC. for a description of the type. Major is a variety with metallic green leaves, lavender to pale purple flowers with a golden throat and yellow tube, longer than the type, to 7.5cm long. [RHSD].
Horticultural & Botanical History
‘From Mr. Veitch. Flowers large, with long flattened tube, and the limb lying almost in the same plane, violet-blue, somewhat paler beneath the eye. It is of a more decided blue than A. Belmontiensis, and is in every way a first class variety.’ [Proc. RHS p.458/1859]. The Gesneriad Register describes the flowers as enormous, to 7.5cm in diameter, light violet with darker purple above the throat and a pale blotch below. In an advertisement in The Gardeners’ Chronicle, H. Lane & Sons, nurserymen of Great Berkhampstead described the flowers as ‘half as long again as the longiflora, and of a deeper blue, the foliage quite green, and very superior, the under surface of the leaf being without that rusty appearance of longiflora.’ [Gard. Chron. 1849]. GRA p.26.
History at Camden Park
Listed only as an addendum to the 1857 catalogue [A.13/1857].
Notes
Published Aug 26, 2009 - 04:43 PM | Last updated Aug 25, 2011 - 02:37 PM
| Family | Gesneriaceae |
|---|---|
| Category | |
| Region of origin | Central America, but probably of garden origin |
| Synonyms |
|
| Common Name | Achimenes, Hot water plant, Cupid’s bow |
| Name in the Camden Park Record |
Achimenes longiflora major |
| Confidence level | high |