Down in Madagascar. Carphalea kirondron, Flaming Beauty, KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
On June 3, 1841, Auguste Pervillé (?-1868), plant collector for the Museum of Natural History in Paris, from the 'Île de Bourbon' (today Réunion) writes a rather plaintive report to the grand administrator of the Museum. He's too low on funds and is just scraping by. Moreover of the eight months he's just spent collecting in Madagascar he was taken ill and could work only three. But he appears to be steady on the job. And indeed he did a lot of 'economic', agrarian work while he was at it. In Ambongo, southern Madagascar - where he also collected our plant - he found a particularly large coffee plant. If you search around a bit on 'the net' you'll be able to read that letter for yourself. Fascinating! For the rest, little is known of what must have been an exciting life of intrepid travel. In his first scientifc description of this Flaming Beauty, Henri Ernest Baillon (1827-1895) refers (1878) to Pervillé's find and adds that in the local language it's called 'Kirondron'; hence the specific name. It's become naturalised in the Tropics and graces KLCC Park.
Down in Madagascar. Carphalea kirondron, Flaming Beauty, KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
On June 3, 1841, Auguste Pervillé (?-1868), plant collector for the Museum of Natural History in Paris, from the 'Île de Bourbon' (today Réunion) writes a rather plaintive report to the grand administrator of the Museum. He's too low on funds and is just scraping by. Moreover of the eight months he's just spent collecting in Madagascar he was taken ill and could work only three. But he appears to be steady on the job. And indeed he did a lot of 'economic', agrarian work while he was at it. In Ambongo, southern Madagascar - where he also collected our plant - he found a particularly large coffee plant. If you search around a bit on 'the net' you'll be able to read that letter for yourself. Fascinating! For the rest, little is known of what must have been an exciting life of intrepid travel. In his first scientifc description of this Flaming Beauty, Henri Ernest Baillon (1827-1895) refers (1878) to Pervillé's find and adds that in the local language it's called 'Kirondron'; hence the specific name. It's become naturalised in the Tropics and graces KLCC Park.