Best is yet to Come. Dichorisandra thyrsiflora, Blue Ginger, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Johan Christian Mikan (1769-1844) was an ill-tempered naturalist. He was such an authoritarian that he was compelled to leave the imperial Austrian Brazil Expedition (1817-1835) of which he was one of the leaders and return home in 1818. He remained, however, in the court's favor and continued on as a prominent botanist. Regardless, in Brazil he had found time to find and later describe many 'new' plants. Among them, near Rio de Janeiro, this wonderful Blue Ginger just coming into bloom in our Hortus now. He described it in 1820.
Indeed, today it's know as a Blue Ginger. Sometimes, though, learned scientists can be a bit obtuse when they write for the 'common' man. Thus one of the first vernacular descriptions - in The Botanical Register (1822) - calls our plant: Thyrseflowered Dichorisandra. Which to me sounds quite unhelpful. But 'Blue Ginger' as descriptive as it seems is also quite off the mark: it's not a Ginger but rather belongs to the Commelinaceae...
But away from all learned talk: just look and enjoy.
Best is yet to Come. Dichorisandra thyrsiflora, Blue Ginger, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Johan Christian Mikan (1769-1844) was an ill-tempered naturalist. He was such an authoritarian that he was compelled to leave the imperial Austrian Brazil Expedition (1817-1835) of which he was one of the leaders and return home in 1818. He remained, however, in the court's favor and continued on as a prominent botanist. Regardless, in Brazil he had found time to find and later describe many 'new' plants. Among them, near Rio de Janeiro, this wonderful Blue Ginger just coming into bloom in our Hortus now. He described it in 1820.
Indeed, today it's know as a Blue Ginger. Sometimes, though, learned scientists can be a bit obtuse when they write for the 'common' man. Thus one of the first vernacular descriptions - in The Botanical Register (1822) - calls our plant: Thyrseflowered Dichorisandra. Which to me sounds quite unhelpful. But 'Blue Ginger' as descriptive as it seems is also quite off the mark: it's not a Ginger but rather belongs to the Commelinaceae...
But away from all learned talk: just look and enjoy.