No joke, last Saturday I saw this plant along Washington Avenue, approaching the USBG and I double-parked and jumped out of the car to inspect more closely. I was pretty sure it was, for me, a new discovery.
And indeed it was: Edgeworthia chysantha, or paperbush. There's not much online about this plant but Dirr nails my particular experience when he writes "Makes a nifty woodland plant and is a great teaser for the visitor who knows everything."
The plant is in the Thymelaeaceae family and is thus related to Daphne. You can see some similarity between the flowers of Daphne and these umbelliferous inflorescences. Edgeworthia is also, like Daphne, faintly fragrant. I love the fuzzy, waxy quality of the flowers and the somewhat surprising discovery of a bright yellow after identifying the flowers as white from afar.
The USBG identifies this plant as E. gardneri and other sources cite is as E. papyrifera, but the exact nomenclature is a bit muddy. The plant is native to forests and streamlands in China and has been used for paper and medicinal purposes. The foliage (which I've yet to witness myself) is evidently broadleaved, elliptical and bluish in hue.
Great post. Has a alien, mars like quality to it.
ReplyDeleteI love how you make the ordinary extroardinary in the city by:
ReplyDelete1) Actually observing it
2) Knowing so much about it and;
3) Appreciating it!
Awesome.