Gaultheria fragrantissima Wall.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Gaultheria fragrantissima' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/gaultheria/gaultheria-fragrantissima/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Synonyms

  • G. ovalifolia Wall.

Glossary

corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
ovoid
Egg-shaped solid.
raceme
Unbranched inflorescence with flowers produced laterally usually with a pedicel. racemose In form of raceme.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Gaultheria fragrantissima' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/gaultheria/gaultheria-fragrantissima/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A large evergreen shrub or small tree; young shoots angled (even triangular), not downy. Leaves leathery, ovate or narrowly oval, pointed, tapered at the base, toothed, 112 to 4 in. long, 34 to 2 in. wide, glabrous or nearly so, bright green above, freely sprinkled with dark brown dots beneath (the remnants of bristles); stalk 112 to 16 in. long. Racemes 1 to 3 in. long, produced from the leaf-axils in April from the shoots made the previous year; main-stalk angled, downy. Flowers drooping, fragrant, closely packed on the raceme; bracts very small. Corolla ovoid to bell-shaped, scarcely 14 in. long, greenish yellow or whitish, glabrous or nearly so outside; calyx five-lobed to half its depth. Fruits surrounded as they usually are in this genus, by the enlarged fleshy calyx which is a beautiful dark blue (sometimes pale blue); each one is borne on a stalk 112 to 16 in. long and downy like the main-stalk. Bot. Mag., t. 5984.

Native of the mountains of India, where it is widely spread; also of Ceylon; introduced about 1850, but described originally by Wallich in Asiatic Researches in 1818. It succeeds well in the open air in Cornwall and similar places, and survives out-of-doors at Kew, but it really needs greenhouse treatment in many parts of the country. It is most nearly related to G. forrestii but is a much more vigorous plant.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The specific epithet refers to the oil of wintergreen scent of the foliage. The true species is rare in cultivation, some plants under the name being really G. semi-infera, but the true species was reintroduced by A. D. Schilling from Nepal in 1975 under his number 2051.