Moltkia petraea (Tratt.) Griseb.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Moltkia petraea' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/moltkia/moltkia-petraea/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Echium petraeum Tratt.
  • Lithospermum petraeum (Tratt.) DC.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
alternate
Attached singly along the axis not in pairs or whorls.
appressed
Lying flat against an object.
bud
Immature shoot protected by scales that develops into leaves and/or flowers.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
inflorescence
Flower-bearing part of a plant; arrangement of flowers on the floral axis.
linear
Strap-shaped.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Moltkia petraea' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/moltkia/moltkia-petraea/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A small semi-evergreen, bushy shrub 1 to 2 ft high; stems erect, and covered with grey hairs pointing upwards. Leaves alternate, narrow-linear, 12 to 112 in. long, about 18 in. wide, covered like the stems with appressed, forward-pointing hairs on both surfaces. Flowers produced during June, in small crowded clusters terminating the young shoots, the whole inflorescence 1 to 112 in. across. Corolla pinkish purple in bud, becoming violet-blue on opening, tubular, 13 in. long, with five short, erect, rounded lobes. Stamens longer than the corolla-lobes. Bot. Mag., t. 5942.

Native of Dalmatia, Albania, etc.; first introduced about 1840, and treated as a cool greenhouse plant. It was afterwards lost to cultivation, but was reintroduced by Messrs Backhouse of York thirty years later. It is not a robust plant and is certainly not adapted for shrubberies, but on a well-drained ledge in the rock garden at Kew it has lived for thirty years. Probably damp is more detrimental to its welfare than cold. Certainly no little shrub of its type deserves better care; it lasts in flower a good while, and no prettier or more dainty plant exists when every twig is crowned by the brilliantly coloured blossoms. The flowers have much the same arrangement as in the common borage; they are closely set, and open successively on the upper side of a stalk which becomes decurved. Summer cuttings take root readily. It needs a light, well-drained soil and a sunny position. Out of flower it has much the appearance of lavender.