Escallonia virgata (Ruiz & Pavon) Pers.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Escallonia virgata' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/escallonia/escallonia-virgata/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Synonyms

  • Stereoxylon virgatum Ruiz & Pavon
  • E. philippiana (A. Engl.) Mast.

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
fastigiate
(of a tree or shrub) Narrow in form with ascending branches held more or less parallel to the trunk.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
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
'Escallonia virgata' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/escallonia/escallonia-virgata/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A deciduous shrub of robust habit and graceful form 6 to 8 ft high, the branches very leafy, often arching. Leaves obovate, 12 to 34 in. long, 16 to 14 in. wide, tapering at the base, toothed; quite glabrous on both surfaces. Flowers pure white, 13 to 12 in. across, produced during June and July in the uppermost leaf-axils and at the end of short twigs, the whole forming a leafy raceme 34 to 112 in. long; calyx top-shaped, with five triangular lobes.

Native of Chile from 370 S. to the end of the continent, and of neighbouring parts of Argentina; introduced by Pearce for Messrs Veitch, between 1860 and 1866, and first flowered in their nursery in 1873. This is undoubtedly the hardiest of all known escallonias; it has survived without any injury 32° of frost at Kew, quite unprotected. It is also very distinct; besides being deciduous, its petals do not, as in so many species, form a kind of tube. Both in leaf and flower it bears a considerable resemblance to the New Zealand shrub Leptospermum scoparium – an ally, however, of the myrtle. It is undoubtedly one of the most pleasing of later-flowering shrubs. It is rather variable in habit in the wild state. Near the tree-line it forms a spreading procumbent shrub, while in the Magellan region it is sometimes seen as a small fastigiate bush.