Thunbergia alata Bojer ex Sims var. aurantiaca

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘Free-growing habit, and incessant propensity to flower for which T. alata has long been remarkable, it has blossoms of a larger size, and of a more superb light orange colour, than almost any other plant.’  [MB p.215/1839].  ‘Seldom have our pages been embellished with a representation of a more showy plant, or one better deserving universal and lasting dissemination.  Wherever its near ally, T. alata, is known and esteemed,-in fact, to every collection which comprises the appurtenance of a single frame or greenhouse,-this delightful species must, immediately on being witnessed, become an indispensable desideratum. […] We are informed, from a respectable source, that seeds of this species were received, among many others from Cape of Good Hope, by Michael Clayton, Esq., of Charlwood Park, Crawley, Sussex.  The first nursery in which it appeared […] was Messrs. Young’s, of Epsom.  From a plant which flowered with these gentlemen about the middle of last August […] we obtained the accompanying drawing.’  [MB p.269/1839].

History at Camden Park

Listed in the 1845, 1850 and 1857 catalogues [H.224/1845].

Notes