Daylight Star. Magnolia stellata, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), whom I've often mentioned in these pages, in Japan had a versatile assistant from 1825, Heinrich Bürger (or: Burger) (1804-1868). Bürger had studied mathematics and anatomy at the university in Göttingen, Germany, and then followed a course in pharmacy at Batavia (now Jakarta), Indonesia. He ran Siebold's pharmacy just off Dejima Island (Nagasaki) and in 1828 became Siebold's successor. Apparently they got along fine, and Siebold named our shrub for Bürger as Buergeria stellata in 1846. That name caused confusion and was incorrect: Buergeria became Magnolia.
In the Hortus it's in full Spring flower now, well before the Magnolia grandiflora whose green leaves form a backdrop against the Cumulus Laden blue sky in this photo.
Daylight Star. Magnolia stellata, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), whom I've often mentioned in these pages, in Japan had a versatile assistant from 1825, Heinrich Bürger (or: Burger) (1804-1868). Bürger had studied mathematics and anatomy at the university in Göttingen, Germany, and then followed a course in pharmacy at Batavia (now Jakarta), Indonesia. He ran Siebold's pharmacy just off Dejima Island (Nagasaki) and in 1828 became Siebold's successor. Apparently they got along fine, and Siebold named our shrub for Bürger as Buergeria stellata in 1846. That name caused confusion and was incorrect: Buergeria became Magnolia.
In the Hortus it's in full Spring flower now, well before the Magnolia grandiflora whose green leaves form a backdrop against the Cumulus Laden blue sky in this photo.