It's because of the leaf-looking bits poking out from the stems between the leaflets that I'm interested in knowing what this is, and how one would describe that structure. The new leaf edges weren't sharp, but I didn't think to see what the mature leaves felt like. The edges look fierce. This is in a planting at an apartment building near me in Vancouver's West End.
Looks like an Euphorbia.... but I have always thought Melianthus was not hardy in our (Vancouver)Climatic Zone?...glad to see!
I believe it is Melianthus major. Common name Honey bush. http://images.google.com/images?q=m...1I7SUNA_en-GB&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi http://images.google.com/imgres?img...n-gb:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7SUNA_en-GB&sa=N&um=1 http://www.crocus.co.uk/images/products2/PL/00/00/07/83/PL0000078311_card3_lg.jpg
Thanks, Silver Surfer. I hate it when something I think I've never seen before turns out to be something I wrote down one day as a plant I really liked. But it was a long time ago - I wrote it down when I was in Hawaii (on a David Tarrant tour) in 1980, and I was probably paying more attention to the flowers. I've just packed away all my photo albums, so I can't check it out for a month or so. I think I remember hearing the name in Australia last year (also a David Tarrant tour) too, but I don't seem to have posted a photo of one. Wikipedia says the leaves have an unpleasant odor (but another site says they smell like peanut butter (one of its common names is "Peanut Butter plant", which doesn't seem that unpleasant) and all parts of the plant are poisonous, but on Dave's Garden, someone mentioned "In its native habitat it is used to make poultices and decoctions that are applied directly to wounds, bruises, backache and rheumatic joints". One site says this: "The Medianthus major lends itself to countless exquisite combinations, growing next to the spectacularly blue Eucalyptus glaucescens". Funny enough, there is a eucalyptus growing up through this plant, but I didn't think it was exquisite the way it was hiding the melianthus. Your first link led me to a Melianthus major 'Antonow's Blue' that has the same leafy flange things between the leaflets. Here's one on Flickr too, with those things. I can't find anything that explains what those are or says what they're called. Daylight saving time ends in 15 minutes, so it's not really the middle of the night over here. Yea!
Very odd that some plants show it and others don't. This one shows it, it is being sold as a straight Melianthus major. http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...mages?q=melianthus+major+blue&hl=en&sa=G&um=1
I knew Steve. I believe he selected what is now being called 'Antonow's Blue' from among seedlings he raised.
Thanks, saltcedar. If I'd known the term "rachis", that might have occurred to me - certainly makes sense now that I see that rachis is the extension of the leaf petiole of a compound leaf (and it's pronounced /ˈreɪkɪs/, which I never would have guessed).
I'm such a fan of Melianthus major that I come up with excuses to post it here and there. This is a different location from the one I originally posted in this thread (that one is no longer there). This is at Morton Park, so a Parks Board planting. It's mid-winter now, and it looks wonderful, though we've had no harsh conditions yet. You can see the winged rachis at the upper left in the second photo. This plant has led me to get excited about all plants with a winged rachis - I have a gallery on flickr of other people's photos that have that feature: Winged rachis and winged stems | Flickr.
I'm sure this is the first I've seen the flowers on Melianthus major. This seems to be all they do - peak bloom, as it were. Ron, would this planting be 'Antonow's Blue'? The previous posting is the same plant.
These flowers have grown larger in the past week. They are now twice my hand-span in length, but I see they can reach up to 80cm. And they have opened. Here is a very good article on these, Melianthus major | PlantZAfrica (sanbi.org), which uses (and explains) the word "resupinate", which Daniel Mosquin tried to teach me a while ago.
