Smelly at Noon. Toothed Hebenstretia, Hebenstretia dentata, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Johannes Commelin (1626-1692), one of the founders of the Amsterdam Hortus, in his great catalogue of its plants, writes about this one from South Africa that in the morning it has no smell, it stinks at noon, and emits an ambrosial odor in the evening. I've never been in the locked-up garden in the evening so have had to forgo testing that statement. In the morning I've indeed smelled nothing; at noon - well, I'm a bit sceptical... perhaps just a whiff of malodour. Commelin calls our plant Valerianella dentata, and come to think of it perhaps the malodour my nose may have picked up was valerianal.
Great Carolus Linnaues renamed Valerianalla for Johan Ernst Hebenstreit (1703-57), a renowned naturalist in his time and a one-time traveler (1731-33) to North Africa with an expedition funded by August I (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony, and several times (!) king of Poland.
Smelly at Noon. Toothed Hebenstretia, Hebenstretia dentata, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Johannes Commelin (1626-1692), one of the founders of the Amsterdam Hortus, in his great catalogue of its plants, writes about this one from South Africa that in the morning it has no smell, it stinks at noon, and emits an ambrosial odor in the evening. I've never been in the locked-up garden in the evening so have had to forgo testing that statement. In the morning I've indeed smelled nothing; at noon - well, I'm a bit sceptical... perhaps just a whiff of malodour. Commelin calls our plant Valerianella dentata, and come to think of it perhaps the malodour my nose may have picked up was valerianal.
Great Carolus Linnaues renamed Valerianalla for Johan Ernst Hebenstreit (1703-57), a renowned naturalist in his time and a one-time traveler (1731-33) to North Africa with an expedition funded by August I (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony, and several times (!) king of Poland.