Gloriously Blue. Clerodendrum trichotomum, Glorytree, Gaasperplaspark, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In these pages I've often mentioned the 'Japanese Linnaeus', Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828). In the service of the Dutch East Indies Trading Company VOC he was a surgeon (1775-76) to the denizens of the tiny artificial island of Dejima, the Dutch trading post in the harbor of Nagasaki. He used his time there, too, to further his naturalist studies. Though the island was jealously guarded by the Japanese, Thunberg was permitted now and then to botanise on the mainland.
It was in the vicinity of Nagasaki that he found this Glorytree, Clerodendrum trichotomum. He published his description in Sweden in 1780. Today this shrub has been planted in gardens all over the world. In the Gaasperplaspark it survives, I think, from the horticultural exhibition - the Floriade - held there in the early '80s. Its blue fruits - which will soon turn black - are wonderfully offset by their bright red calyx, and both contrast marvellously with Autumn yellows under a light blue sky.
Gloriously Blue. Clerodendrum trichotomum, Glorytree, Gaasperplaspark, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In these pages I've often mentioned the 'Japanese Linnaeus', Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828). In the service of the Dutch East Indies Trading Company VOC he was a surgeon (1775-76) to the denizens of the tiny artificial island of Dejima, the Dutch trading post in the harbor of Nagasaki. He used his time there, too, to further his naturalist studies. Though the island was jealously guarded by the Japanese, Thunberg was permitted now and then to botanise on the mainland.
It was in the vicinity of Nagasaki that he found this Glorytree, Clerodendrum trichotomum. He published his description in Sweden in 1780. Today this shrub has been planted in gardens all over the world. In the Gaasperplaspark it survives, I think, from the horticultural exhibition - the Floriade - held there in the early '80s. Its blue fruits - which will soon turn black - are wonderfully offset by their bright red calyx, and both contrast marvellously with Autumn yellows under a light blue sky.