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Re: Weinmannia spp

Tim Longville wrote:
> 
> Tim: Torn between envy (self-seedlings, curse it! not even the guys at
> Mt Stewart could claim that their plants were THAT much at home, even
> in that pretty convincing imitation of NZ; at least I don't think so -
> there are whole groves of self-seeded myrtles there but seedlings of
> weinmannia, I think not) and gratitude (for offer of seeds: for which
> many thanks; I'll do my best to compose myself in patience until this
> season's seeds have ripened).
> 
> From your description of the NZ sp., it sounds very similar to the
> Chilean one. At least, the effect of the flowers when they're out is
> very similar. I haven't seen them in bud so can't swear to similarity
> there.
> 
> Any taxonomist among us know what in fact ARE the differences between
> these spp? Come to that, Tim, what's the difference - or what are the
> differences - between W. racemosa and W. silvicola?
> 
> Which of course I'd never heard of before your message. Would that
> have similar hardiness levels, do you think? I don't suppose Le Jardin
> Dutton contains a seed-bearing example or two of that sp as well, by
> any chance...?!

Tim

This query got me looking too, as, though I live very close to Tim D and
am very familiar with W racemosa in our local bush but not im my  (much
smaller) garden, I also hadn't heard of W.sylvicola either.

Anyway, I looked it up in my tree "Bible",  Eagle's Trees and shrubs of
New Zealand, and find it is a smaller species and not so hardy,
occurring only in the North Island between Lat 35 and Latitude 38 South.

Botanically, the major difference appears to be in the leaves. Both
species have compound leaves in the juvenile stage, but while W
sylvicola has up to ten pairs of leaflets, W racemosa has no more than
three leaflets in total. In the adult stage W sylvicola  still  commonly
has compound leaves with up to 5 leaflets, while the adult leaves of W
racemosa are simple. However, it notes the juvenile stage of the latter
can persist many years and the trees can even flower in this stage.

>From the illustrations it appears W racemosa is the better garden plant
with much bolder and more attractive flowers and is certainly
considerably more hardy.

Moira
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
(SW Corner of the Pacific Ocean)
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