April Flower, April Tree

As you may have noticed there's no thought out plan to which flower and tree I choose each month from my wanderings in the Botanic Garden. It's just a question of what happens to catch my eye at the time. So April's flower is one that's normally associated with the earlier part of the year, while the tree is one that I'd happily photograph at any season, though the fresh, bright green leaves of Spring give it a special appeal.

Hellebore - helleborus

The Hellebores have been flowering since early in the year and have now developed their seed pods, but they are no less attractive for that. Despite having the common name of Lenten Rose they are not closely related to roses at all, but are part of the same family as Buttercups.

There are twenty or so species of Hellebore and gardeners have created many more hybrids. They are all poisonous causing a wide variety of distressing symptoms. However the ancient Greeks and Romans convinced themselves that it would cure madness. Witches are also supposed to have used it to summon up demons. Best to leave it well alone.

It must be one of a very limited number of flowers that have won a military victory. This is supposed to have occurred during the siege of Kirrha in 585 BC; the besieging troops used it to poison the defenders water supply and gave them diarrhoea, rendering them so weak that they couldn't fight.

There are several kinds in the garden including the Corsican Hellebore, above.

And here is the rather unattractively named Stinking Hellebore. It's a rather unfair description because it doesn't stink at all until you crush the leaves. The one photographed is probably a garden variety as it has more purple colouration than those that naturally occur in the British countryside. They were once used as a rather hazardous cure for intestinal worms; as Gilbert White wrote,  "Where it killed not the patient, it would certainly kill the worms; but the worst of it is, it will sometimes kill both". 

Lets move on to something less deadly....


Dawn Redwood - Metasequoia glyptostroboides

A shapely silhouette; bright green foliage in Spring; rough reddish bark; and developing a striking foxy-red hue in Autumn - it's one of my favourite trees in the garden. And one with a fascinating history.

Until 1941 this tree was unknown to science: then it was discovered twice within a year. Firstly, Dr. Shigeru Miki, from Kyoto University, was studying very ancient fossil samples and discovered a hitherto unknown species which he named Metasequoia, which merely means "like a sequoia". Meanwhile, over in a remote part of China, a forester known as T Kan, from Beijing University, discovered a stand of living trees which he could not identify. It took till 1946 before it was established that they were both the same species.

Seed was sent to Cambridge from Beijing and led to the first Dawn Redwoods to grow in Britain. They were planted by the lake as the Chinese trees had been found growing by water (though they also planted one in a rather obscure nook between the glasshouses and the toilets!). It was later found that the trees also flourished in much less specialised habitats.

As has already been suggested, the Dawn Redwood is a deciduous tree, unlike the Giant Redwood which is evergreen. It's closest relative is probably the Swamp Cypress. The University has taken the opportunity to plant the two similar-looking trees in close proximity so you can easily compare the two.

The Dawn Redwood is the larger tree in the centre of the photo, while the Swamp Cypress is on the right of it with its feet in the water.


Take care.