The answer...?
Several answers on my Twitter account were incredibly close, and in a couple of cases people were spot on! The person who said that they all belong to Camellia sasanqua was right, as was the person who said that they share common parents. Several people were, however, completely spot on! Yes, these three flowers share a root system; yes, they're all from the same plant!
This, folks, is Camellia sasanqua 'Souvenir de Claude Brivet', a fascinating autumn flowering Camellia because it is a botanical 'chimera'. For anyone (like me) with a scant memory of Greek mythology the Chimera was a creature made up of other creatures. Botanically a chimera has two or more genetically distinct types of cell, usually caused by a mutation in the meristem.
This is all very interesting, but for gardeners it is how this characteristic shows itself that is the appeal; Camellia 'Souvenir de Claude Brivet' will flower anywhere from white to solid pink, and with variable degrees of streaking between. It would drive obsessive gardeners mad (and could be used to confuse someone- they'd swear it was pink last year...!) but for me it is a fascinating oddity.
No comments:
Post a Comment