Fuchsia fulgens DC.

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘This is probably the most beautiful plant of the Temperate Flora of Mexico.  It was originally met with by Mocino and Sesse, two Spanish naturalists, authors of an unpublished Flora Mexicana, and has very lately been introduced to this country.  The accompanying drawing was made from a plant in the possession of Mr. John Lee of Hammersmith, to whom the large silver medal of the Horticultural Society of London was awarded upon his exhibiting it at one of the meetings at the Society’s house in Regent Street.  It is difficult to conceive anything more brilliant than the appearance of this species, when its rich vermillion-coloured flowers are fixed beneath the influence of a Mexican sun; but if it is grown in a shaded site, with too much heat and moisture, the bright colours inevitably fade, and the plant is deprived of half its beauty. It will no doubt prove a robust shrub of easy culture, growing freely in a mixture of loam and peat in the green-house; cuttings of the young wood will strike freely in sand under a bell-glass on a moderate hot-bed.  It is probably about as hardy as F. arborescens, and perhaps like that species not enough so to stand the winter, or to flower well in the open border, but it will certainly grow and flower freely in the green-house; and it is by no means impossible that it may even succeed in the open air in good summers, in a warm sheltered situation.’  [BR f.1/1838].  ‘The great length and brilliant colour of its flowers, and the tuberous nature of its roots, constitute an entirely new feature of the genus Fuchsia and strongly recommend it to every cultivator.’  [MB p.163/1838,  MB p.221/1838].   

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine comments on hybrids produced by Curtis of Glazenwood Nursery: ‘[Curtis] has succeeded in producing a great number of hybrids, by means of other species, and flowers of all kinds are the result, from the balloon form of F. globosa, to the peculiarly elongated figure here described.’  The figure appears to be of Fuchsia fulgens.  [BM t.3801/1840].  Introduced to Britain in 1830.  FC p.266/1837.

History at Camden Park

Listed in all published catalogues [T.477/1843].  Brought out from Kew Gardens by Captain P. P. King in 1849 although already grown for a number of years by Macarthur.  [ML A1980-3].  This is one of very few fuchsias to thrive in the Camden Park gardens through the heat and humidity of summer.

Notes