Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers - Datisca cannabina

I don't have words to describe this thing growing outside the Pavilion, with the huge gracefully-drooping sprays of tiny white flowers.

 

Re: Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers

Datisca cannabina. A rarely cultivated herbaceous perennial in its own family, Datiscaceae. Plants are dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants) and fix nitrogen through a mutualistic relationship with a root-nodulating actinobacteria in the genus Frankia. Frankia species are also known to associate with Alnus (alder) and Elaeagnus (oleaster) and its relatives. Used as a dye plant. Native from the eastern Mediterranean to the Himalayas.

 

Re: Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers

Ok to use for BPotD? We haven't featured any plants from that family yet.

 

Re: Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers

Has actually been in commerce down here (Heronswood nursery, Steamboat Island nursery) and displayed in the landscaping at Swanson's nursery in Seattle.

 

Re: Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers

You're asking me? Of course. That's great.

 

Re: Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers

And Colletia (links to Plants ID posting of a Stanley Park plant that Nadia and I have been watching for flowers on).

Thanks, Douglas. None of those are words I'd have thought of using to describe it. I'm glad to know it isn't something everyone but me would have known about.

 

Re: Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers

That is a picture how Datisca cannabina looks with fruits, photo taken at the end of September

 

Re: Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers

My datisca cannabina has these seeds (fruits?) and I am wondering if they are fertile since I only have one plant. Does anyone know how to propagate this? I dug mine up last year and there was a huge root 'mass'. Can that be successfully divided? And also, why is this plant not more widely available? I cannot find it for sale on the internet in the US. It is such a graceful plant, at least in my location here in north Baltimore County, Maryland, USA. it does well in its location against a wall in a NNE exposure.

I acquired it about 6 years ago at a 4-H fair in Putnam County, NY. Has no idea what it was - I just took home all the orphan plants that were left at the end of the day. It took a while to identify it and now I'm thrilled to have a rare plant. What a nice surprise!

 

Re: Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers

Wendy, can you add Datisca Cannabina to the title line so that it shows up in searches? thx.

 

Re: Big graceful sprays of teeny white flowers

Happy to oblige. I think it would show up in searches anyway.

 

Flora of Pakistan reports it is readily propagated by seed or cuttings. Going off Nadia's photographs from September, it seems our plant produces a lot of fruit -- but whether it is fertile or not, I don't know.

Plant Delights Nursery carries the plant in the US. Our plants were sourced from seed from the Moscow Botanical Garden.

 

Here's a fruit photo from today.

 

I may as well complete the cycle - here's the Datisca cannabina in May. I didn't notice when it was cut back, but we were assured that it will grow back to its glory from last summer.

 

It will definitely come back. Mine die to the ground in fall and grow back every summer year after year to their 7 - 8 foot height. The stems are hollow.

 

It's back! I was so excited.

 

I've missed seeing the Datisca cannabina outside the Pavilion, so I was very excited to see this plant in the Winter Garden today. But it's not the same individual - this one is male. The second photo in this thread and the photo that precedes this posting show female flowers.