Eryngium giganteum

Last updated

Eryngium giganteum
0 Eryngium giganteum - Panicaut geant.JPG
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
(unranked):
(unranked):
(unranked):
Order:
Family:
Genus:
Species:
E. giganteum
Binomial name
Eryngium giganteum
L.

Eryngium giganteum, with the common name Miss Willmott's ghost, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae.

Contents

The short-lived herbaceous perennial thistle is native to the Caucasus and Iran in Western Asia.

Description

Eryngium giganteum grows to 1 m (3 ft 3 in). It produces branched heads of pale green conical flowerheads surrounded by spiny bracts in summer. The flowers turn blue at maturity. It usually dies after flowering and is therefore normally grown as a biennial.

Cultivation

It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for use in gardens. Both the species and its cultivar 'Silver Ghost' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [1] [2]

The common name refers to Ellen Willmott, who is said to have carried seeds at all times, planting them in the gardens of fellow horticulturalists. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Geranium</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Geraniaceae

Geranium is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in the eastern part of the Mediterranean region.

<i>Eryngium</i> Genus of flowering plants in the celery family Apiaceae

Eryngium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. There are about 250 species. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the center of diversity in South America. Common names include eryngo and sea holly.

<i>Forsythia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Forsythia is a genus of flowering plants in the olive family Oleaceae. There are about 11 species, mostly native to eastern Asia, but one native to southeastern Europe. Forsythia is also one of the plant's common names, along with Easter tree; the genus is named after William Forsyth.

<i>Delphinium</i> A genus of flowering plants belonging to the buttercup family and comprising poisonous species and members popular for horticulture

Delphinium is a genus of about 300 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The genus was erected by Carl Linnaeus.

<i>Calluna</i> Flowering plant in the heather family Ericaceae

Calluna vulgaris, common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to 20 to 50 centimetres tall, or rarely to 1 metre (39 in) and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade. It is the dominant plant in most heathland and moorland in Europe, and in some bog vegetation and acidic pine and oak woodland. It is tolerant of grazing and regenerates following occasional burning, and is often managed in nature reserves and grouse moors by sheep or cattle grazing, and also by light burning.

<i>Agave americana</i> species of plant

Agave americana, common names sentry plant, century plant, maguey or American aloe, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to Mexico, and the United States in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Today, it is cultivated worldwide as an ornamental plant. It has become naturalized in many regions, including the West Indies, parts of South America, the southern Mediterranean Basin, and parts of Africa, India, China, Thailand, and Australia.

<i>Saxifraga</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae (saxifrages)

Saxifraga is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 440 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word saxifraga means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin saxum + frangere. It is usually thought to indicate a medicinal use for treatment of urinary calculi, rather than breaking rocks apart.

<i>Hosta</i> genus of plants

Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies and occasionally by the Japanese name giboshi. Hostas are widely cultivated as shade-tolerant foliage plants. The genus is currently placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, and is native to northeast Asia. Like many "lilioid monocots", the genus was once classified in the Liliaceae. The genus was named by Austrian botanist Leopold Trattinnick in 1812, in honor of the Austrian botanist Nicholas Thomas Host. In 1817, the generic name Funkia was used by German botanist Kurt Sprengel in honor of Heinrich Funk, a collector of ferns and alpines; this was later used as a common name and can be found in some older literature.

<i>Camellia japonica</i> species of plant

Camellia japonica, known as common camellia, Japanese camellia, or tsubaki in Japanese, is one of the best known species of the genus Camellia. Sometimes called the rose of winter, it belongs to the family Theaceae. It is the official state flower of Alabama. There are thousands of cultivars of C. japonica in cultivation, with many different colors and forms of flowers. In the U.S. it is sometimes called japonica, a name more often used in the UK for Chaenomeles.

<i>Scabiosa caucasica</i> species of plant

Scabiosa caucasica, the Caucasian pincushion flower, pincushion-flower or Caucasian scabious, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to the Caucasus, north eastern Turkey, and northern Iran. Growing to 60 cm (24 in) tall and broad, it is a clump-forming perennial with divided leaves. Pincushion-shaped buds, borne on erect stems, open to pale blue or lavender flower heads, 8 cm (3 in) in diameter, from late summer through to autumn.

<i>Erica carnea</i> species of plant

Erica carnea, the winter heath, winter-flowering heather, spring heath or alpine heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to mountainous areas of central, eastern and southern Europe, where it grows in coniferous woodlands or stony slopes.

<i>Ilex aquifolium</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Aquifoliaceae

Ilex aquifolium, the holly, common holly, English holly, European holly, or occasionally Christmas holly, is a species of flowering plant in the family Aquifoliaceae, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia. It is regarded as the type species of the genus Ilex, which by association is also called "holly". It is an evergreen tree or shrub found, for example, in shady areas of forests of oak and in beech hedges. In the British Isles it is one of very few native evergreen trees. It has a great capacity to adapt to different conditions and is a pioneer species that repopulates the margins of forests or clearcuts.

<i>Ceratostigma</i> genus of plants

Ceratostigma (;), or leadwort, plumbago, is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. Common names are shared with the genus Plumbago.

<i>Farfugium japonicum</i> species of plant

Farfugium japonicum syn. Ligularia tussilaginea is a species of flowering plant of the family Asteraceae, also known as leopard plant or green leopard plant. It is native to streams and seashores of Japan, where it is called tsuwabuki (石蕗).

<i>Philadelphus coronarius</i> species of plant

Philadelphus coronarius is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangaceae, native to Southern Europe. It is a deciduous shrub growing to 3 m (10 ft) tall by 2.5 m (8 ft) wide, with toothed leaves and bowl-shaped white flowers with prominent stamens. In the species the blooms are abundant and very fragrant, but less so in the cultivars. It may resemble, but is not related to varieties of the similarly named dogwood, which is the common name for Cornus in the family Cornaceae.

<i>Crocus chrysanthus</i> species of plant

Crocus chrysanthus, the snow crocus or golden crocus, is a species of flowering plant of the Crocus genus in the family Iridaceae. Native to the Balkans and Turkey, it bears vivid orange-yellow bowl-shaped flowers. It has smaller corms and a smaller flower than the giant Dutch crocus, although it produces more flowers per bulb than the latter. Its common name, "snow crocus", derives from its exceptionally early flowering period, blooming about two weeks before the giant crocus, and often emerging through the snow in late winter or early spring. The leaves are narrow with a silver central stripe. Height: 3–4 inches (7.6–10.2 cm).

Ellen Willmott English horticulturist

Ellen Ann Willmott was an English horticulturist. She was an influential member of the Royal Horticultural Society, and a recipient of the first Victoria Medal of Honour, awarded to British horticulturists living in the UK by the society, in 1897. Willmott was said to have cultivated more than 100,000 species and cultivars of plants and sponsored expeditions to discover new species. Inherited wealth allowed Willmott to buy large gardens in France and Italy to add to the garden at her home, Warley Place in Essex. More than 60 plants have been named after her or her home, Warley Place.

<i>Cyclamen persicum</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae

Cyclamen persicum, the Persian cyclamen, is a species of flowering herbaceous perennial plant growing from a tuber, native to rocky hillsides, shrubland, and woodland up to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) above sea level, from south-central Turkey to Lebanon-Syria, east to Jordan and south to Israel and the west bank. It also grows in Algeria and Tunisia and on the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos, and Crete, where it may have been introduced by monks. Cultivars of this species are the commonly seen florist's cyclamen.

<i>Colchicum speciosum</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Colchicaceae

Colchicum speciosum is a species of flowering plant in the family Colchicaceae, native to mountainous areas of northern Turkey, the Caucasus and northern Iran. Growing to 18 cm (7 in) tall by 10 cm (4 in) wide, it is an herbaceous perennial growing from corms. C. speciosum blooms in the fall, producing reddish/violet flowers on stems up to 30 centimetres (12 in) tall without any leaves present. The strap-like leaves grow in the spring, then yellow, wither and die back as summer progresses. The flowers strongly resemble those of the crocus, the familiar spring-flowering bulb; hence the common name autumn crocus which is applied to this and other colchicum species. However the two genera belong to different families; and there is in fact an autumn-flowering crocus species, Crocus sativus, the source of the spice saffron. By contrast, all parts of Colchicum speciosum are toxic if ingested.

<i>Eryngium bourgatii</i> species of plant

Eryngium bourgatii, the Mediterranean sea holly, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to Morocco, Lebanon, Turkey, France, and Spain. It is a herbaceous perennial growing to 15–45 cm (6–18 in) tall. The spherical blue flowerheads have spiny bracts.

References

  1. "RHS Plant Selector — Eryngium giganteum" . Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  2. "RHS Plant Selector — Eryngium giganteum 'Silver Ghost'" . Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  3. RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN   1405332964.
  4. "Special Exhibition Label: 'Eccentricity: Unexpected Objects and Irregular Behaviour' (10/5/2011 - 16/10/2011) (MHS Narratives: IRN 15071)". Museum of the History of Science. Retrieved 2019-10-28.