Chilly Pink. Bergenia crassifolia, Siberian Tea, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Today the temperature in Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia, is -37C; in the Hortus Botanicus here it's 5C. So no wonder this plant from that part of the world, once generally called Siberia, is flowering. It must be pretty warm for it in our garden.
Bergenia crassifolia was first collected in 'Siberia' by that undaunted naturalist Johann Georg Gmelin (1709-1755). He was part of the Second Kamchatka Expedition 1733-43 co-ordinated by Vitus Bering from Yakutsk. Gmelin arrived at 'headquarters' from St Petersburg in September 1736 and started putting his already large collection of naturalia in order with relevant descriptions. Then disaster struck; in November his house in Yakutsk with his scientific materials burned down. Courageously Gmelin soldiered on recollecting and redescribing; this work is the foundation of his four-volume Flora Sibirica, finalised after his death in 1769. It describes, too, our plant.
If you want a good read in a warm room on a Winter's Evening, you could do worse than to choose another of his works, the marvellous autobiographical description of his travels in those remote parts... It's accessible on-line.
Chilly Pink. Bergenia crassifolia, Siberian Tea, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Today the temperature in Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia, is -37C; in the Hortus Botanicus here it's 5C. So no wonder this plant from that part of the world, once generally called Siberia, is flowering. It must be pretty warm for it in our garden.
Bergenia crassifolia was first collected in 'Siberia' by that undaunted naturalist Johann Georg Gmelin (1709-1755). He was part of the Second Kamchatka Expedition 1733-43 co-ordinated by Vitus Bering from Yakutsk. Gmelin arrived at 'headquarters' from St Petersburg in September 1736 and started putting his already large collection of naturalia in order with relevant descriptions. Then disaster struck; in November his house in Yakutsk with his scientific materials burned down. Courageously Gmelin soldiered on recollecting and redescribing; this work is the foundation of his four-volume Flora Sibirica, finalised after his death in 1769. It describes, too, our plant.
If you want a good read in a warm room on a Winter's Evening, you could do worse than to choose another of his works, the marvellous autobiographical description of his travels in those remote parts... It's accessible on-line.