Quun-swe-quon's Lilac Vine. Wisteria sinensis, Chinese Wisteria, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In 1815 John Reeves (1774-1856), chief tea inspector of the British East Indies Company at Canton (now Guangzhou), China, and an ardent naturalist, procured from his merchant friend 'Quun-swe-quon, or something like it', now known as Conseequa or Consequa, one of the latter's delightful vines. Two exemplars were sent to England arriving there in May 1816.
The plant was soon named, first as a Glycine and then Wisteria. A variety of specifics was devised...
But to the chagrin of The Gardener's Magazine (II (1826), 422 and XI (1835), 111) Conseequa was not honored with Wisteria's specific. Both articles are fascinating and tragic reading not least because they make clear how unscrupulous American and English businessmen between themselves financially destroyed our Gardening Merchant Hero.
One way to distinguish 'our' Wisteria from the Japanese kind is that its vine winds anti-clockwise and the Japanese one clockwise. The Hortus Botanicus here is lucky to have both kinds.
Quun-swe-quon's Lilac Vine. Wisteria sinensis, Chinese Wisteria, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In 1815 John Reeves (1774-1856), chief tea inspector of the British East Indies Company at Canton (now Guangzhou), China, and an ardent naturalist, procured from his merchant friend 'Quun-swe-quon, or something like it', now known as Conseequa or Consequa, one of the latter's delightful vines. Two exemplars were sent to England arriving there in May 1816.
The plant was soon named, first as a Glycine and then Wisteria. A variety of specifics was devised...
But to the chagrin of The Gardener's Magazine (II (1826), 422 and XI (1835), 111) Conseequa was not honored with Wisteria's specific. Both articles are fascinating and tragic reading not least because they make clear how unscrupulous American and English businessmen between themselves financially destroyed our Gardening Merchant Hero.
One way to distinguish 'our' Wisteria from the Japanese kind is that its vine winds anti-clockwise and the Japanese one clockwise. The Hortus Botanicus here is lucky to have both kinds.