Sunshine Farm and Gardens
Rare and Exceptional Plants for the
Discriminating Gardener and Collector
Discriminating Gardener and Collector
|
|
Sunshine Farm and Gardens
Rare and Exceptional Plants for the
Discriminating Gardener and Collector |
| ` | Saruma henryi |
Click to enlarge
|
How would you like to see Asarum canadense,
"Wild Ginger", on steroids??? Well that's the
best way that I can think of to describe Saruma
henryi. I first saw Saruma henryi growing
in Cole Burell's ice cold zone 4 garden in Minneapolis
Minnesota in 1995. I knew if a plant could survive up
there, it could survive anywhere. He was kind
enough to send me some seeds however, I'm not
sure what happened to them. A few years later,
my friend Karl Rider of Meadowbrook Gardens in Meadowbrook
PA generously gave me a large plant from a Morris Arboretum
Plant Collecting trip to China. I immediately put it
into tissue culture where it proceeded to produce thousands
of new plants. Saruma henryi was discovered on a Chinese plant collection expedition in the early part of the 1900's by plant explorer Augustine Henry. Who knows why it's taken so long to really get itself into cultivation? Saruma is an anagram of the word Asarum, Apparently, they ran out of imagination when it came time to name it. It's a monotypic genus in the Aristolochiaceae family. The Aristolochiaceae family is home to the genus Asarum, the deciduous "Wild Gingers" and Hexastylis, the evergreen "Wild Gingers". Also, the genus Aristolochia, better known as the "Dutchman's Pipe". Our East Coast native Aristolochia durior can climb a hundred feet into the top of a tree and makes a really neat spiral around the branches. The flowers resemble little pipes. Check out a picture at http://www.rodsguide.com/wildflowers/pages/ dutchman%27s_pipe.html If you would like to know more about the fascinating Aristolochiaceae family you can go to the following link : http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/anthophyta/pal eoherbs/aristolochiales.html Other than tissue culture, I don't have much experience in propagation of this species, but from what I understand, it self sows abundantly and is very easy from cuttings. Most plants that are easy from cuttings are best propagated prior to flowering as there are hormonal changes during flowering that can make rooting difficult. Taxonomic Hierarchy Kingdom - Plantae - Plants Subkingdom - Tracheobionta - Vascular plants Superdivision - Spermatophyta - Seed plants Division - Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants Class - Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons Subclass - Magnoliidae Order - Aristolochiales Family - Aristolochiaceae Genus - Saruma Species - henryi Common name - genus - ???? Common name - species - ??? Synonyms - ??? Native of - China USDA Hardiness Zone - zone 4 Light preference - Light shade to light sun Soil preference - Average to rich Moisture preference - Average to moist Bloom time - Early Spring Bloom color - Yellow Foliage - Medium green, cordate (heart shaped) Spread - 12" - 36" Height - 12" - 24" Landscape uses - Massing in a shady or woodland garden Medicinal uses - None that I have found © 2002 Barry Glick and Sunshine Farm & Gardens |
Copyright © Barry Glick 1996-2024. All Rights Reserved.
Barry Glick, Sunshine Farm and Gardens
696 Glicks Rd, Renick, WV 24966, USA
Phone: (304) 497-2208
E-mail: barry@sunfarm.com
Last modified February 25, 2020
URL: https://www.sunfarm.com/picks/sarumahenryi-051035.phtml
