Softly Blue in the Garden. Plectranthus zuluensis, Zoeloemuishondhaar, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Zulu Spur Flower, I suppose, is a rather boring name for this pretty Plectranthus. In Afrikaans it's called, much more evocatively, Zoeloemuishondhaar, which translates more or less as Zulu Striped Polecat Hair. The Striped Polecat is South Africa's Ictonyx striatus, a kind of Skunk, a Zorilla. Why our Flower got this name, I don't know. It doesn't look like Polecat hair, and it smells rather like Hyacinths.
Apparently it was first collected by ill-fated William Tyrer Gerrard (1831-1866) who was active in KwaZulu-Natal. In 1865 he thought adventure in Madagascar would suit him. Whether he liked it there is lost to me in the mists of history. But he died of yellow fever at appropriately named Foulpoint, today Mahavelona.
Zoeloemuishondhaar wasn't scientifically described until 1909, by Theodore Cooke (1836-1910).
Softly Blue in the Garden. Plectranthus zuluensis, Zoeloemuishondhaar, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Zulu Spur Flower, I suppose, is a rather boring name for this pretty Plectranthus. In Afrikaans it's called, much more evocatively, Zoeloemuishondhaar, which translates more or less as Zulu Striped Polecat Hair. The Striped Polecat is South Africa's Ictonyx striatus, a kind of Skunk, a Zorilla. Why our Flower got this name, I don't know. It doesn't look like Polecat hair, and it smells rather like Hyacinths.
Apparently it was first collected by ill-fated William Tyrer Gerrard (1831-1866) who was active in KwaZulu-Natal. In 1865 he thought adventure in Madagascar would suit him. Whether he liked it there is lost to me in the mists of history. But he died of yellow fever at appropriately named Foulpoint, today Mahavelona.
Zoeloemuishondhaar wasn't scientifically described until 1909, by Theodore Cooke (1836-1910).