Swirlly Purity. Holarrhena antidysenterica, Tellicherry Bark, KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I rather hesitated about the name Holarrhena. Uusally our plant goes by the Latin name Wrightia... But of course I read up on William Wright (1735-1819), Scottish physician and botanist, for whom it is named. Wright had a varied life and spent time on Jamaica where he was not only a sugar plantation doctor but also himself a wealthy slave owner. That's bad enough, but he was also much opposed to abolition. So I couldn't quite stomach using his name for Holarrhena - a less usual name for our pure-flowering shrub but listed by Tropicos as a synonym. It hails from the Indian subcontinent and one of its common names is Tellicherry Bark. Tellicherry is present-day Talassery, north Malabar, Kerala, India. That bark - ground - is used to alleviate the symptoms of dysentery.
Swirlly Purity. Holarrhena antidysenterica, Tellicherry Bark, KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I rather hesitated about the name Holarrhena. Uusally our plant goes by the Latin name Wrightia... But of course I read up on William Wright (1735-1819), Scottish physician and botanist, for whom it is named. Wright had a varied life and spent time on Jamaica where he was not only a sugar plantation doctor but also himself a wealthy slave owner. That's bad enough, but he was also much opposed to abolition. So I couldn't quite stomach using his name for Holarrhena - a less usual name for our pure-flowering shrub but listed by Tropicos as a synonym. It hails from the Indian subcontinent and one of its common names is Tellicherry Bark. Tellicherry is present-day Talassery, north Malabar, Kerala, India. That bark - ground - is used to alleviate the symptoms of dysentery.