Exuberant Spring. Japanese Quince, Chaenomeles japonica, Hortus Botanicus, Leiden, The Netherlands
A Bright and Sunny Day brought out the Exuberance of this marvellous Chaenomeles japonica (Thun.) Spach, as it's labeled in the beautiful Botanical Garden of Leiden. This Japanese Dwarf Quince was described in 1780 by the 'Japanese Linnaeus', Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828), who spent 1775-6 on Dejima, Nagasaki, as surgeon for the Dutch East Indies Trading Company (VOC).
The history of its European 'life' is not entirely clear to me (yet). Various learned authors give various readings as to when this Quince was introduced to Europe: 'after 1796', writes one; another '1869'; and in 1884, Curtis's Botanical Magazine claims 1874. In any case, in that year it was being sold by the horticulturist firm of Maule and Sons in Bristol, England. Hence one of our Chaenomeles's common names: Maule's Quince.
The Hortus in Leiden has another Quince, too - Chaenomeles speciosa, also called a Japanese Dwarf Quince. That particular Quince plant is quite ancient. It was brought to The Netherlands from Japan by that intriguing 'Man of Many Climes', Philipp von Siebold (see yesterday's Cherry Blossoms with Totem Pole) in the middle of the nineteenth century!
Exuberant Spring. Japanese Quince, Chaenomeles japonica, Hortus Botanicus, Leiden, The Netherlands
A Bright and Sunny Day brought out the Exuberance of this marvellous Chaenomeles japonica (Thun.) Spach, as it's labeled in the beautiful Botanical Garden of Leiden. This Japanese Dwarf Quince was described in 1780 by the 'Japanese Linnaeus', Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828), who spent 1775-6 on Dejima, Nagasaki, as surgeon for the Dutch East Indies Trading Company (VOC).
The history of its European 'life' is not entirely clear to me (yet). Various learned authors give various readings as to when this Quince was introduced to Europe: 'after 1796', writes one; another '1869'; and in 1884, Curtis's Botanical Magazine claims 1874. In any case, in that year it was being sold by the horticulturist firm of Maule and Sons in Bristol, England. Hence one of our Chaenomeles's common names: Maule's Quince.
The Hortus in Leiden has another Quince, too - Chaenomeles speciosa, also called a Japanese Dwarf Quince. That particular Quince plant is quite ancient. It was brought to The Netherlands from Japan by that intriguing 'Man of Many Climes', Philipp von Siebold (see yesterday's Cherry Blossoms with Totem Pole) in the middle of the nineteenth century!