Nobel Flowers. Agave celsii, Cel's Agave, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This beautiful desert plant from Mexico was first described scientifically by William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) in 1856. It had been long neglected - more than half a century - at the Kew Gardens, as Hooker writes, and had come into their possesion through the good offices of Jacques Philippe Martin Cels (1740-1806) of Paris, self-taught botanist who during the French Revolution had lost his job as a tax collector.
It was 'rediscovered' by Charles Christopher Parry (1823-1890), a botanist and mountaineer, and Edward Palmer (1829-1911) during an expedition into Mexico in San Luis Potosi. Their herbarium specimen of 1878 is still extant. You can see a picture of it on the Tropicos website. But live is always better! Here it is in Amsterdam's fine Hortus Botanicus.
Nobel Flowers. Agave celsii, Cel's Agave, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This beautiful desert plant from Mexico was first described scientifically by William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) in 1856. It had been long neglected - more than half a century - at the Kew Gardens, as Hooker writes, and had come into their possesion through the good offices of Jacques Philippe Martin Cels (1740-1806) of Paris, self-taught botanist who during the French Revolution had lost his job as a tax collector.
It was 'rediscovered' by Charles Christopher Parry (1823-1890), a botanist and mountaineer, and Edward Palmer (1829-1911) during an expedition into Mexico in San Luis Potosi. Their herbarium specimen of 1878 is still extant. You can see a picture of it on the Tropicos website. But live is always better! Here it is in Amsterdam's fine Hortus Botanicus.