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Intricate. Early-flowering Spiked-tail, Stachyurus praecox, ARTIS Amsterdam Zoo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Here's another plant from the Far East - in this case Japan - that was first described for the West by that intrepid and gifted naturalist, surgeon, diplomat and spy Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), whom I've often mentioned in these pages. Siebold worked in the service of the Dutch and is noted especially for his stay on the island of Dejima in Nagasaki's harbor although there's much, very much more to his exciting life.

He described this shrub in 1834, published in his Flora Japonica in 1835.

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Uploaded on March 22, 2024
Taken on March 22, 2024