Plant Highlights
Plant Highlights
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Magnolia × alba
white champaca, white sandalwood
Highlight Month:
January
Nativity:
Asia
Growth Habit:
Lotusland’s Japanese Garden houses many winter-fragrant plants including Osmanthus fragrans, Camellia ‘Yume’, Camellia ‘Minato-no-akebono,’ and Chimonanthus praecox. Another to add to the list is Magnolia × alba, a presumed cross between Magnolia champaca (yellow champaca) and M. montana. This hybrid produces pleasingly fragrant white flowers from mid-winter to early summer. M. champaca differs in having yellow flowers with wider tepals and famously used in manufacturing the 1929 Joy perfume by Jean Patou, the world’s second best-selling perfume after Chanel No. 5. M. champaca is native from southern India to central China and southeast Asia. While the hybrid rarely makes fruit, M. champaca is known to produce viable seed, and both can easily be propagated from cuttings.
Both white and yellow champaca are commonly grown in California as far north as the Bay Area and were likely brought to the United States by Asian immigrants because of their cultural significance; the flowers are commonly floated in dishes of water at Buddhist temples. They are hardy to USDA Zones 10-11, are slow growing, but will reach 25-30 feet tall and wide with age.
Growing Requirements:
Well-drained soils, sun.
Features:
The specific epithet champaca is derived from the Sanskrit word campaka.
Many nurseries continue to list both trees under the genus Michelia, which was incorporated into Magnolia in 2004. The Magnoliaceae, or magnolia family, now consists of only two genera, Magnolia and Liriodendron. Michelia were formerly distinguished due to their evergreen leaves and production of flowers along the leaf axils instead of only at the branch tips.
Where at Lotusland:
Magnolia × alba can be found in between the Japanese Garden and Arboretum at Lotusland, north of the Wisteria Pavilion. Another closely related and banana-scented species, Magnolia figo, also formerly in the genus Michelia, grows nearby.
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Ginkgo biloba
ginkgo, maidenhair tree
Highlight Month:
December
Nativity:
Ginkgo biloba is the only surviving member of an ancient lineage of ginkgo-like plants that arose during the early Permian period, approximately 280 million years ago (mya), and consisted of at least 16 genera. Members of the extant genus Ginkgo appeared in the early Jurassic (~ 180 mya) and had a circumpolar distribution in the Northern Hemisphere before the last species, Ginkgo biloba, retreated to its final habitat in what is now China. Despite being widely cultivated, G. biloba is currently designated as Endangered by the IUCN, with only two wild populations recently identified in Guizhou and Zhejiang provinces. The oldest recorded living ginkgo is estimated to be 3,500 years old.
Growth Habit:
Ginkgo are gymnosperms (along with conifers, cycads, and gnetophyes), a group of perennial, seed-producing plants. Unlike angiosperms, or flowering plants, gymnosperms do not produce flowers and instead develop “naked” seeds lacking a protective ovary. Ginkgo are dioecious, with separate male and female plants. Most selections in cultivation are male because female plants drop seeds covered in a malodorous fleshy sarcotesta reminiscent of rancid butter or vomit. Ginkgo are known for dropping their leaves over a short period of time, sometimes in a single day, resulting in a dramatic yellow carpet of leaves underneath the canopy. Trees are slow growing but can reach 50-80 feet tall and become pyramidal in shape with age.
Growing Requirements:
Ginkgo require consistent moisture and can grow in full sun to partial shade. They are remarkably unaffected by urban smog and have been widely planted in Asia as street and park trees. Ginkgo biloba is an incredibly tolerant species, able to withstand most environmental stresses and is affected by few pests and diseases.
Features:
The genus name comes from ginkyo, the Japanese phonetic pronunciation of the Chinese characters for “silver apricot.” The specific epithet, biloba, refers to the two-lobed shape of the leaves and, because they resemble maidenhair fern (Adiantum) leaflets, the common name is maidenhair tree.
Ginkgo biloba is the only surviving species in its division Ginkgophyta. Fossil evidence suggests Ginkgo has remained generally unchanged for the last 270 million years and was once native to North America and throughout the world. Ginkgo biloba is widely grown in China and Japan for its medicinal, food and timber value. Female trees produce an edible seed covered in a nauseatingly smelly fleshy structure. Once cleaned, these seeds are roasted or included in bird’s-nest soup. Standardized extracts from the leaves are used to treat difficulties of concentration and memory, lack of energy, decrease physical performance, anxiety, dizziness, tinnitus and headache.
Where at Lotusland:
Lotusland’s Japanese Garden is home to one female ginkgo tree, which drops its seed in late November to early December. The remainder in Lotusland’s living collection are male, including three specimens of the cultivar ‘Autumn Gold’, a 1957 selection chosen for golden yellow fall color. Another specimen has been pruned and trained in the niwaki style.
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Begonia peltata
lily-pad begonia, fuzzy leaf begonia
Highlight Month:
October
Nativity:
Southern Mexico to Honduras
Growth Habit:
B. peltata has almost-circular felted leaves coated in a layer of white fuzz. The specific epithet refers to the peltate leaves with the petiole, or leaf stalk, attached to a point on the underside of the leaf, like a waterlily or lotus.
Growing Requirements:
This begonia thrives in full sun to dappled shade, can handle semi-dry conditions, and is hardy to USDA Zone 9a. It reaches 2-4 feet tall and wide, becoming shrub-like with age.
Features:
Like all begonias, B. peltata is monecious and produces male and female flowers on separate structures of the same plant. Superficially, the flowers appear identical, both with white petals and yellow reproductive parts. This is a type of pollination mimicry called pseudoanthery. In the case of begonias, nectarless female flowers imitate pollen-filled yellow stamens of the male flowers to attract pollinators for fertilization. Female flowers can be distinguished by the presence of a three-angled ovary behind the petals, and a cluster of spiraled yellow stigmas.
Where at Lotusland:
Begonia peltata can be found in the Fern Garden at Lotusland, near the entrance on the Main Drive across from the Insectary Garden.
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Alpinia zerumbet ‘Variegata’
variegated shell ginger
Highlight Month:
September
Nativity:
Eastern Asia
Growth Habit:
Variegated shell ginger makes a great tropical addition to the garden with bold yellow and green striated leaves. It thrives in moist soils in full to partial sun and reaches 4-8 feet tall in Santa Barbara.
Growing Requirements:
This ginger is hardy to USDA Zone 8 but is commonly planted as an annual in colder climates due to its ornamental foliage. Clumps spread slowly via underground rhizomes to around four feet in diameter.
Flowers are produced on the second-year growth and resemble small light pink shells when in bud. When fully open, a tubular ruffled yellow petal emerges with a red throat. Following flowering, the plant will produce round, fleshy, vermillion fruits with longitudinal ribs.
Features:
Alpinia zerumbet is a member of the Zingiberaceae or ginger family, which includes ornamental and edible gingers, turmeric, and cardamom. The genus name honors 17th century Italian botanist Prospero Alpini. Alpinia zerumbet is native to eastern Asia where it is used for culinary and medicinal purposes. The fragrant flowers, leaves, and rhizomes impart flavors and scent to other cooking ingredients. In Okinawa, Japan, the leaves are utilized to wrap muchi or onimochi, a pounded and flavored steamed rice, typically eaten in the cold season. In China, the dried fruits are an ingredient in Sichuan hot pot soups, and the leaves are one of many regional plant species used to bundle zongzi, stuffed rice dumplings.
Where at Lotusland:
Water Garden bogs and in the Lower Bromeliad Garden near the Rooster Grotto
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Trevesia palmata
snowflake aralia, snowflake tree
Highlight Month:
August
Nativity:
Trevesia palmata belongs to the ginseng family, or Araliaceae, and has a large native range from Nepal to China and south to Thailand and Vietnam.
Growth Habit:
Individual leaves can reach up to two feet wide and are circular in outline. As the plant matures, successive leaves change their morphology from simple to palmate and, in some selections, the leaves display attractive dissected sinuses. The common name references this highly variable and cut-leaf foliage in the pattern of a snowflake. The cultivar ‘Micholitzii’ is one of these horticultural selections chosen for dramatic leaf shape and fuzzy white newly emerging foliage. Trevesia palmata grows in evergreen forest understory typically as a solitary trunk with few side branches, reaching a maximum height of 15-20 feet tall. The stems and petioles have scattered short prickles.
Growing Requirements:
T. palmata prefers light shade to part sun and is hardy to USDA Zone 9.
Features:
Like many other species in the Araliaceae, Trevesia palmata produces its reproductive structures on an umbel. Short flower stalks gathered in a cluster resemble spokes on an umbrella. Flowers on the ends of the stalks emerge yellow in the spring and mature into half-inch round fruits. The young flower buds are edible. The genus Trevesia contains eight species, all native to Asia. Other well-known genera in this family include Aralia, Cussonia, Fatsia, Hedera, Pseudopanax, Heptapleurum, Schefflera, and Tetrapanax.
Where at Lotusland:
Tropical Garden/Cycad Garden interface
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Acanthostachys strobilacea
pinecone bromeliad
Highlight Month:
July
Nativity:
This odd genus of bromeliads contains only three species, all endemic to South America. In its native habitat, it grows epiphytically or on rocks from eastern Brazil to Paraguay and northeastern Argentina.
Growth Habit:
It is a low maintenance, drought tolerant plant that spreads via short basal rhizomes.
Growing Requirements:
The long narrow foliage is covered in tiny specialized white scales called trichomes and initially grows upright and then arches and becomes pendulous, making it an excellent subject in a hanging basket or tall pot.
Features:
A. strobilacea blooms in the summer with small, dense inflorescences reminiscent of tiny pinecones. The flowers have yellow petals and are set inside showy bright orange and red pointy bracts. The genus name is derived from the Greek, acanthos (thorny or spiny), and stachys (a flower spike). The specific epithet, strobilacea, also refers to the cone-like appearance of the persistent inflorescences.
Lotusland is home to one other species in this genus, Acanthostachys pitcairnioides, which exhibits a much different growth habit with upright, bright orange leaves lined with dark brown teeth. Its lavender flowers emerge at the base of each rosette and develop into attractive ovoid white fruits.
Where at Lotusland:
Acanthostachys strobilacea can be found in the Lower Bromeliad Garden at Lotusland where it happily grows in a terra cotta strawberry pot.
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Deuterocohnia brevifolia
Highlight Month:
June
Nativity:
D. brevifolia is native to southern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina.
Growth Habit:
There are approximately seventeen species of Deuterocohnia, all bromeliads native to South America. A small group of these species grows in dense cushion-like mounds amongst rocks or terrestrially in the ground. These mounds form from continuously branching stems, or ramets, and can reach several feet in width. Branching usually occurs after an individual rosette has flowered and new ramets form out of the upper part of the flowering rosette. The older, interior ramets form a spongy mat that eventually decomposes but stores water and decomposing nutrients.
Deuterocohnia brevifolia is one of the most cultivated of the genus and flowers in winter to spring with sparse tubular chartreuse flowers. It is closely related to the red-green flowering Deuterocohnia lotteae. The small rosettes of leaves range in size from 1-2.5 inches in diameter, have varying amounts of teeth on the margins, and are covered in small silvery scales called trichomes.
Growing Requirements:
Requires well-drained soils and full to part sun.
Features:
Deuterocohnia brevifolia is one of the most cultivated of the genus and flowers in winter to spring with sparse tubular chartreuse flowers. It is closely related to the red-green flowering Deuterocohnia lotteae. The small rosettes of leaves range in size from 1-2.5 inches in diameter, have varying amounts of teeth on the margins, and are covered in small silvery scales called trichomes.
The genus name is dedicated to the German botanist and microbiologist Ferdinand Julius Cohen (1828-1898) who already had the genus Cohnia, named after him. Deuteros, from the Greek for second, designates Deuterocohnia as the second genus named in his honor. The specific epithet, brevifolia, comes from the Latin brevis = short, and folium = leaf.
Where at Lotusland:
D. brevifolia, and several other Deuterocohnia species, can be found in the Lower Bromeliad Garden at Lotusland.
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Graptopetalum paraguayense ssp. bernalense
Highlight Month:
May
Nativity:
This diminutive succulent is known from only one location and was first introduced to the botanical field in 1979 by Alfred Lau (1928-2007), a German plant collector and missionary living in Mexico. Lau found the plant at 700-800m on Cerro del Bernal, a solitary mountain peak located 39 km east of Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas, Mexico. It was observed growing in both rock fissures and on flat ground amongst Sedum, Echeveria, Tillandsia, Ficus, and several orchid species.
Growth Habit:
The one other subspecies, G. paraguayense ssp. paraguayense, has only ever been observed in cultivation when volunteer seedings appeared in the New York greenhouse of Frank Weinberg in 1904, likely traveling as seed amongst cacti imported from Mexico. After much taxonomic and nomenclatural confusion, it retains the specific epithet, paraguayense, despite its likely origins in Mexico, not Paraguay.
G. paraguayense ssp. bernalense differs by having a smaller overall size and yellowish to whitish green leaf coloration versus the larger rosette and greyish violet color of ssp. paraguayense.
Growing Requirements:
Sun, well-drained soils
Features:
The genus Graptopetalum comes from the Greek grapto, “to write,” and petalum, “a petal,” referencing the marked or inscribed petals often colored with red in some of the species. Graptopetalum flowers face upwards and spread out like tiny stars. There are approximately sixteen Graptopetalum species recognized with the majority occurring in Mexico and two into Arizona. As of 2012, botanical researchers in Russia have suggested elevating G. paraguayense ssp. bernalense into its own species, G. bernalense.
Where at Lotusland:
Lotusland is home to both subspecies in the “echeveria circle” in the Succulent Garden. Our ssp. bernalense came from the original collection by Lau, donated through the International Succulent Introductions through The Huntington (ISI 1660, HBG 42730). Our ssp. paraguayense originated from the late John Bleck, former greenhouse manager at UCSB and owner of Abbey Garden succulent nursery, and distinguished Santa Barbara plantsman.
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Euphorbia makallensis
sausage plant, hamat kolkwal
Highlight Month:
April
Nativity:
E. makallensis is native to the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia where it is found in only two locations. The first recording, near Igre Hariba, was documented in 1975, and a second population was later found in 2011, 75km north in Hawzen.
Growth Habit:
This compact euphorbia is easy to grow and makes a great statement plant as a potted specimen or in the ground. In the wild, E. makallensis can form tuffet-like mounds up to five feet wide, resembling large rocky outcrops from a distance. At first glance, it resembles a miniature version of Euphorbia resinifera from Morocco. The stems of this plant are usually four-sided, edged with grey spine shields along the entire length, and produce spines in pairs of two. Flowering occurs in the late spring/early summer with bright yellow floral parts arranged in a unique structure called a cyathium.
Growing Requirements:
Well-drained soils, full sun.
Features:
Although this species had been in cultivation for some time, it wasn’t officially described as a new species until 1981 by researchers at Kew Gardens. The local Tigrinya name for this species is “hamat kolkwal” meaning “the mother-in-law of kolkwal,” in reference to the larger Euphorbia candelabrum.
Where at Lotusland:
E. makallensis can be found on the euphorbia side of the Main Drive at Lotusland near the entrance to the Water Garden.
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Magnolia x soulangeana
saucer magnolia
Highlight Month:
February
Nativity:
Garden Origin
Growth Habit:
This deciduous magnolia may grow as a multi-trunked or single-stemmed bush. It usually grows 10 to 15 feet in height. Flowers appear in early spring before the glossy green leaves.
Growing Requirements:
While perfectly happy in our Mediterranean climate, this magnolia will also thrive in temperate climates. Likes regular water and rich, well-amended soil.
Features:
The showy flowers are cup shaped, reddish purple on the outside shading to nearly white on the inside. It is a hybrid of Magnolia denudata and M. liliiflora.
The original Magnolia x soulangeana cross originates from France, where it was originally bred by plantsman Étienne Soulange-Bodin, and first flowered in 1826. Over fifty cultivars of Magnolia x soulangeana exist today.
Where at Lotusland:
Japanese Garden
