Ardisia crenata Sims
Half hardy erect shrub with spiralled or alternate lance-shaped leaves, with scalloped margins, and terminal umbel-like corymbs of star-shaped pink flowers in summer, followed by ornamental, spherical red berries. To 1.5m. [RHSE]. Don describes Ardisia crenulata Vent. as having reddish-violet flowers followed by black berries.
Horticultural & Botanical History
‘It is a neat little shrub, producing flowers and fruit nearly the whole year round: we have plants not above three inches high quite loaded.’ [LBC no.2, 1817]. ‘This useful stove shrub forms an object of considerable beauty during the greater part of the year, being almost always covered with pretty coral-like berries’. [Gard. Chron. 1854]. ‘It takes up so little room, and is so easily propagated by cuttings, that it is deserving a place in every greenhouse, where it will do as well as in the stove; being hardier than any of the other species. […] There are other species that have the leaves somewhat crenated at the margin, but in none is this character so remarkable as in our present plant; we prefer, therefore, crenata to the Nurseryman’s name of crenulata.’ The plant figured was obtained from Loddidges’ Nursery in 1816. [BM t.1950/1819]. Ardisia crenulata was first cultivated in England in 1809. [JD].
History at Camden Park
Listed only in the 1857 catalogue [T.66/1857] although it was received per ‘Sovereign’ February 1831. [MP A2948]. This importation was probably lost and plants were also obtained from the Sydney Botanic Garden on 17th October 1853 [RBGS AB].
Notes
Ardisia crenulata Vent. (1803) = Parathesis crenulata Hook.f. ex Hemsl., a Mexican species.
Published Feb 25, 2009 - 03:39 PM | Last updated Feb 23, 2010 - 01:16 PM
Ardisia crenata Sims | BM t.1950/1819 | BHL
| Family | Myrsinaceae |
|---|---|
| Category | |
| Region of origin | South East Asia |
| Synonyms |
|
| Common Name | Coral berry, Spice berry |
| Name in the Camden Park Record | Ardisia crenulata |
| Confidence level | high |