Polygala myrtifolia L.
Frost tender, erect, bushy, evergreen shrub with oblong, leathery leaves and short, leafy, terminal racemes of purple-veined, greenish white flowers, to 2cm long, with crested keel petals, from spring to autumn. To 2.5m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Horticultural & Botanical History
‘Cultivated with us in 1707 by the Duchess of Beaufort. […] Myrtifolia forms a straggling-branched shrub of three or four feet in height, and is found very generally in our greenhouses, where it flowers for a great part of the summer, and is of easy cultivation,’ [BR f.669/1822].
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine figures the variety grandiflora, with rather larger flowers. [BM t.3616/1837]. This variety is also figured in Loddiges Botanical Cabinet under the name Polygala grandiflora [LBC no.1127/1826].
History at Camden Park
First listed in a handwritten note in an 1850 catalogue held at the Mitchell Library [MP A2947a] and subsequently in the 1857 catalogue [T.773/1857].
Notes
Sometimes naturalised in NSW, South from Port Macquarie. [FNSW].
Polygala myrtifolia Fries = Polygala amara L., a European species.
Published Mar 22, 2009 - 05:01 PM | Last updated Mar 24, 2010 - 03:42 PM
Polygala myrtifolia L. | BM t.3616/1837 var. grandiflora | BHL
| Family | Polygalaceae |
|---|---|
| Category | |
| Region of origin | South Africa |
| Synonyms | |
| Common Name | Milkwort |
| Name in the Camden Park Record | Polygala myrtifolia |
| Confidence level | high |