Lomatia hirsuta
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Lomatia hirsuta' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Embothrium hirsutum Lam.
Editorial Note
Two synonyms given by Bean are now considered to denote a subspecies: Lomatia hirsuta subsp. obliqua (Ruiz & Pav.) R.T.Penn., syn. Embothrium obliquum Ruiz & Pavon, syn. Lomatia obliqua R.Br..
An evergreen shrub or small tree 20 to 60 ft high; young stems slightly downy. Leaves alternate, leathery, ovate, 11⁄2 to 4 in. long, 3⁄4 to 21⁄2 in. wide, wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, blunt at the apex, coarsely round-toothed; as they unfold they are covered with tawny down, but afterwards become perfectly glabrous, and of a deep glossy green; stalk brownish, about one-fourth the length of the blade. Flowers borne in axillary racemes 2 to 3 in. long, pale greenish yellow, not showy. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 335.
Native of Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Ecuador; introduced by H. J. Elwes in 1902. It proved hardy at Kew, planted on an outside border near one of the plant-houses where it was 9 ft high until the winter of 1946–7, when it was killed by the severe weather. This species would no doubt be better suited growing under the same conditions as Embothrium. Probably the best specimen in the country grows in woodland at Nymans in Sussex. Raised from seeds collected by H. F. Comber on his Andean expedition (1925–7), it measured 36 × 31⁄4 + 31⁄4 ft in 1985. The species also grows well at Branklyn in Perthshire.
