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The renga and The renamed

Many thanks to everyone - Nick, Rod, Moira, Tim, et al - for help with
my mysteries and with the arthropodiums. 

Re the latter: a little local knowledge is a wonderful thing. I'd been
dimly thinking, "Ok, they come from down there, so up here I'm going
to need to give'em plenty of sun" - then I began to wonder why my
flowering stems on A. cirratum were a miserable 18" at most and quite
out of scale with its stylish-if-fleshy bulkiness (the plant
equivalent of middle period Marlon Brando, perhaps...?). Now I know.
And since shade, sodden, soaking, damp, semi-damp or even, just about,
dry, is something I have plenty of, the idea of a mass planting of'em
in that sort of spot is an appetising one and I shall certainly give
it a go. 

Re the mysteries, or, particularly, THE mystery. Curiouser and
curiouser, as the man said... Let me see if I've got this straight.
Temu divaricata (?or is it -um; sorry; forgotten which) = Myrciaria
dubia = Eugenia divaricata = (the real, the true, the only)
Blepharocalyx cruickshankii. And taxonomists wonder why 'ordinary
gardeners' sometimes get a mite irritated with'em... 

Still haven't found an image for the creature, mind, so I continue to
reserve judgement. Have found images for SOME eugenia spp (eg E.
uniflora, which apparently in Oz rejoices in the unlikely common name
of Spanish Stopper; an innocent Pom would hardly dare to ask why...).
Most of them seem to have the same attractive red edible fruit as are
claimed for E. divaricata, and most do indeed seem to come from
Chile/Brazil/Uruguay/and thereabouts. The images I've found don't seem
impossible as relatives of what I have but, then, a myrtle is a myrtle
is a myrtle... 

Supposing, as Nick's authorities suggested, that this creature comes
from around Valparaiso (ONLY from there? or?), anyone on the list know
that region well enough to suggest hardiness levels for its flora?? I
always tend to think that Chilean myrtles have a fighting chance of
succeeding in sheltered West Coast gardens in the UK, and an even
better chance in the south and west of Ireland, where there isn't
generally much frost but there is lots and lots of, ah, precipitation.
Opinions?


Tim Longville
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