Bowkeria gerardiana Harvey

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Bowkeria gerardiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/bowkeria/bowkeria-gerardiana/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Synonyms

  • B. triphylla Hort., not Harvey

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    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.
    lanceolate
    Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
    lax
    Loose or open.
    ovate
    Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
    viscid
    Sticky.

    References

    There are no active references in this article.

    Credits

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

    Recommended citation
    'Bowkeria gerardiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/bowkeria/bowkeria-gerardiana/). Accessed 2024-03-28.


    Editorial Note

    This species is now correctly known as Bowkeria verticillata (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Druce (Plants of the World Online 2023).

    TC, December 2023.


    An evergreen shrub 8, 10, or more ft high; stems covered with fine grey hairs. Leaves stalkless, arranged in threes at each joint, 4 to 7 in. long, 112 to 214 in. wide; ovate-lanceolate, toothed, long-pointed; dull green, somewhat downy on both surfaces. Flowers produced in August in lax, three- to ten-flowered cymes; the shaggy flower-stalks springing from the leaf-axils. Corolla pure white, 34 in. across, similar to a calceolaria, two-lipped, flattened at the mouth of the tube to a broad slit; upper lip broadly two-lobed, lower one three-lobed. The inflorescence is very viscid. Bot. Mag., t. 8021.

    Native of Natal, and rare in cultivation. It has long been grown under glass at Kew, but my first knowledge of its existence in the open air was obtained in August 1903, when flowering shoots were sent to Kew from Mrs Gwytherne Williams’ garden at Belvedere, St Lawrence, Isle of Wight. It is not only a beautiful shrub, but interesting as one of the comparatively few South African ones that can be grown outside in the south of England. It is, however, very tender and should not be attempted out-of-doors except in mild coastal gardens. A plant at Logan, Wigtownshire, reached 20 ft but was killed in the winter of 1961–2. The name under which it has been grown – “B. triphylla” – belongs to a plant apparently not in cultivation.