Chironia jasminoides Ker-Gawl.

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘A species long since upon record; having been published by Linnaeus, in the name of one of his disciples [Willdenow], from a spontaneous specimen in the Herbarium of the learned Burmann.  Yet it does not appear in the Hortus Kewensis; nor is it known by any figure; the one under the name, in the Illustrations of Genera by the Chevalier De Lamarck, obviously representing a different species.  Native of the Cape of Good Hope, but it does not seem to be known when or by whom introduced.  The drawing was made from a plant in the nursery of Messrs. Whitley, Brames, and Milne, at Parson’s Green; where it flowers in February and March in the greenhouse, requiring the same treatment as the Cape heaths.’  [BR f.197/1817].

‘It produces its elegant flowers in the autumn.  They last for a considerable time, occasionally closing and opening again, and that at uncertain seasons.’  [LBC no.27/1817].  ‘All the sorts [of Chironia] are easily induced to form a compact, large-sized specimen; and when well managed, they become literally covered with bright-coloured flowers, which keep going for months together’.  [Gard. Chron. 1853]. Introduced to Britain in 1812.  [JD].

History at Camden Park

Listed in the 1843, 1845 and 1850 catalogues.

Notes

Chironia jasminoides Lam.  = Chironia nudicaulis L.f.

Chironia jasminoides L. (1817) = Chironia tetragona L.f.