September 2014 – Botanically Inclined

The rainy weather of this year has surely pleased all the baneberries (Actaea species). Their fruits are not indicated to be consumed for lunch!!! being poisonous, but they are so attractive. Let’s call them local gourmet foods for the soul and eyes!

All Actaea species make for superb specimens in part-shade to shaded locations of the garden. White, fragrant flowers that attract pollinators in late spring, beautiful foliage, colourful and long-lasting fruits… isn’t this enough to consider adding these native beauties to your garden?

Actaea pachypoda – Doll’s eyes, White baneberries

Good fortune made it that I also found a few plants of A. pachypoda with magenta coloured fruits – which is a rare form given as Actaea pachypoda f. rubrocarpa (not everyone agrees on this, but after I found them, I surely do).

Actaea pachypoda f. rubrocarpa

Actaea rubra – Red baneberry

I am very pleased that I can offer them all in my Seed Catalogue – BotanyCa. They are a bit difficult to germinate sometimes (just require more time) but since when are beautiful things easy to obtain?

Update: ID as Aconitum variegatum subsp. paniculatum

All Aconitum species are wearing cool hats but this one in particular with the hood on one side looks very chic. Growing Aconitum from seeds that are not properly identified is quite a pain, but worth the trouble.

All monkshoods are equally beautiful and deadly, with spikes of violet, dark blue, yellow or white hood-shaped, complicated flowers that one needs to know the terminology in order to ‘read’ their characters. Species are usually described on the basis of root and flower morphology.

Update: Aconitum variegatum subsp. paniculatum

After lots of searches, pictures, dissections… this one was narrowed down to Aconitum variegatum subsp. paniculatum (syn. Aconitum degenii) or A. variegatum subsp. variegatum. We’ll know for sure in late fall after I’ll dig it up and see the tuber shape; and maybe I’ll have a seed or two but glad to hear other opinions…

Aconitum variegatum: sepals (hood with pronounced rostrum) and petals with coiled nectary spurs

Before being praised as a garden plant, Aconitum was considered (and still is) “the king of the poisons” (Europe) or “the king of medicines” (Tibet and China), depending on where it grew, but this is a good subject for wintertime storytelling…
It is a good idea to wear gloves when doing anything that involves touching an Aconitum. It contains highly active and toxic alkaloids.