http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
|
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg

You do ask the easy ones, don't you? :-)

The leaves and growth habit looked horribly familiar (Hypericum,
Vinca etc.), but I am 90% certain that I have never seen that in
flower and never taken notice of it out of flower ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 7/2/08 20:23, in article , "Stewart Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg

A Stachyurus?


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 7/2/08 20:23, in article , "Stewart Robert
| Hinsley" wrote:
|
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg
|
| A Stachyurus?

If so, it's not S. praecox. It doesn't look right to me. Not that
I am a Stachyurus expert.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 7/2/08 21:25, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 7/2/08 20:23, in article , "Stewart Robert
| Hinsley" wrote:
|
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg
|
| A Stachyurus?

If so, it's not S. praecox. It doesn't look right to me. Not that
I am a Stachyurus expert.

The other thing that occurs to me is a Leucothoe, perhaps. It's quite
familiar but I can't think why!


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| The other thing that occurs to me is a Leucothoe, perhaps. It's quite
| familiar but I can't think why!

Wikipedia, that well-known source of misinformation, indicates that
Leucothoe has alternate leaves. I had taken the first picture to
indicate opposite ones (hence Hypericum and Vinca) - have I misread
it, and they are in fact alternate?

Not that I can identify it in either case!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 7/2/08 20:23, in article , "Stewart Robert
| Hinsley" wrote:
|
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg
|
| A Stachyurus?

If so, it's not S. praecox. It doesn't look right to me. Not that
I am a Stachyurus expert.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I hadn't thought of Stachyurus, but it's a reasonable suggestion.
However the photographs were taken in early May, and the flowers are, if
I interpret the photographs correctly, still in bud (a photograph a
couple of weeks later would have helped).

Hillier says that only two species are hardy in the UK - S. chinensis
and S. praecox - and it's neither of these. (It flowers too late, and
when in leaf, and it's too low growing.)

I've taken a look at the Stachyuraceae treatment in the Flora of China
on Harvard's web site - apart from habit and height there's very little
(short of taking a close look that possible from the photographs) to
distinguish the plant from Stachyurus. However the leaves of Stachyurus
are finely serrate (I think that the plant has entire margins), and
Stachyurus flowers are tetramerous (it's hard to tell, but I think that
plant is pentamerous).

Similar objections would hold to an identification as Corylopsis.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 7/2/08 20:23, in article , "Stewart
Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg

A Stachyurus?


Not so sure about that - I think they flower whist not in leaf.

In message , Sacha
writes
On 7/2/08 21:25, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 7/2/08 20:23, in article ,
|"Stewart Robert
| Hinsley" wrote:
|
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg
|
| A Stachyurus?

If so, it's not S. praecox. It doesn't look right to me. Not that
I am a Stachyurus expert.

The other thing that occurs to me is a Leucothoe, perhaps. It's quite
familiar but I can't think why!


I thought for a few minutes that you had it there (partly because I had
a vague idea that it might be related to Gaultheria), but the bracts at
the base of each pedicel eliminate Leucothoe. Also, the petals don't
look consistent with the urn shaped flowers of those (and several other)
ericaceous genera - so that would seem to eliminate Gaultheria as well.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| The other thing that occurs to me is a Leucothoe, perhaps. It's quite
| familiar but I can't think why!

Wikipedia, that well-known source of misinformation, indicates that
Leucothoe has alternate leaves. I had taken the first picture to
indicate opposite ones (hence Hypericum and Vinca) - have I misread
it, and they are in fact alternate?

The leaves are alternate. This is particularly clear if you look at the
second photograph, where the inflorescence can be seen to be in the axil
of a solitary leaf.

Not that I can identify it in either case!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In message , Russel Sprout
writes

"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 7/2/08 20:23, in article , "Stewart
Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg

A Stachyurus?


Not so sure about that - I think they flower whist not in leaf.


The commonly grown ones do, but the rarer (and fide Hillier not hardy)
species include some which are evergreen, and which flower later in the
spring.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

On 7/2/08 22:25, in article lid, "Stewart Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

In message , Russel Sprout
writes

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 7/2/08 20:23, in article , "Stewart
Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg

A Stachyurus?


Not so sure about that - I think they flower whist not in leaf.


The commonly grown ones do, but the rarer (and fide Hillier not hardy)
species include some which are evergreen, and which flower later in the
spring.

Nick's right about the leaves, obviously. I was thinking more of the
flowers, I must admit. Where is it growing - does that give any clue?
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In message , Sacha
writes
On 7/2/08 22:25, in article lid, "Stewart Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

In message , Russel Sprout
writes

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 7/2/08 20:23, in article , "Stewart
Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg

A Stachyurus?


Not so sure about that - I think they flower whist not in leaf.


The commonly grown ones do, but the rarer (and fide Hillier not hardy)
species include some which are evergreen, and which flower later in the
spring.

Nick's right about the leaves, obviously. I was thinking more of the
flowers, I must admit. Where is it growing - does that give any clue?

In a National Trust garden. It's a Chinese-themed area, but I'm not
confident that that means that all the plants are Chinese - I'm pretty
sure that Larix decidua 'Pendula' isn't.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Try Leucothoe axillaris, because that's what it is. Stachyurus is a
genus of deciduous shrubs/small trees, which discounts it in the first
place. Give the plant another few weeks for the flowers to develop
fully because the photograph portrays one that has a little way to go
yet. As the inflorescence develops, the basal bracts dehisce and are
not normally present by the time the flowers have reached maturity.

In message
,
Dave Poole writes
Try Leucothoe axillaris, because that's what it is. Stachyurus is a
genus of deciduous shrubs/small trees, which discounts it in the first
place. Give the plant another few weeks for the flowers to develop
fully because the photograph portrays one that has a little way to go
yet. As the inflorescence develops, the basal bracts dehisce and are
not normally present by the time the flowers have reached maturity.

Thanks.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley