Yucca-Leaved Beschorneria - Beschorneria yuccoides
This bizarre Trifid of a plant resides In the Systematic Beds with its 1½ metre long, blood-red flower-spikes waving threateningly against the blue sky!
In fact it's a much more peaceful plant than it looks and unlike most spikey-looking specimens it doesn't stab you at all. It's actually a member of the Asparagus family and comes from high in the mountains of Mexico. but seems equally at home here on a grassy lawn in Cambridge.
Equally oddly although it sends up such a large, brightly-hued stalk the flowers which it bears are quite small, unimpressive and green.
As the red starts to fade it produces some very appealing shades that I can't resist photographing. As well as the one in the Systematic beds there's another (which I take to be the same species) growing over by the Glasshouse Range where it looks over the shoulder of visitors who sit to consult their map.
And so from the strange and exotic to something a little more familiar....
Laburnum
The Laburnum tree is seen in many gardens, both large and small, throughout these islands and is probably more easily recognised (at least when it's flowering) than many indigenous trees.
The Laburnum came originally from SE Europe and Asia Minor but does just fine in the British climate and has been grown here for centuries. The long, dangling bright-yellow flowers (racemes we're supposed to call them) give the tree its poetic name "The Golden Chain Tree".
The heartwood of the tree is a dark chocolatey brown while the sapwood is a creamy colour and it was traditionally used as an inlay on expensive furniture. Musical instruments could also be made from it and it used to be a favourite material for making the chanter and drones of the Highland bagpipes, though tropical hardwoods such as African blackwood later became popular. Nowadays a lot of bagpipes use Polypenco, a type of high-grade plastic, in their manufacture.
There's no record of bagpipers or bagpipe-makers suffering any ill-effects from the wood, though all parts of the tree are said to be poisonous. There was a big scare about this in the 1970s and Laburnum trees were cut down to avoid the perceived danger to children. However there are no recorded deaths from Laburnum poisoning and it seems that the threat was much exaggerated - household cleaning fluids and cosmetics containing far more toxic substances.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an important engagement with a lonely, attractively-sited bench...…
Take care.
I am sure the bench would hardly have missed you, sitting as it does under such beautiful trees.
ReplyDeleteThat yucca is amazing! I would expect this to grow in southern Europe maybe, Cambridge would not be my first thought :)
ReplyDeleteRather stunning displays there
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice bench. Watch out for busy bees, though, with all those blossoms over your head. Isn’t it a shame that bagpipe makers have gone to plastic. Wood must have been much nicer.
ReplyDeleteThe first one is quite photogenic, but strange!
ReplyDeleteI got excited when I saw the "yucca"... thinking it might be related to Yucca brevifolia (the Joshua Tree)! The Laburnum tree is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Both of them new to me.
ReplyDeletePresumably the climate in your part of Canada does not suit Laburnum; I'm sure it would have been brought in otherwise.
DeleteA green flower is unusual, and with the red no less. The yellow flowers are exceptional.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shots! Laburnum is called yellow rain here in Sweden and apparently all the kids learn that it is poisonous.
ReplyDeleteThe Laburnum are lovely. The Yukka looks like one I pass on my daily walk, in a garden a couple of hundred metres from here. It is not in flower at present so I can't compare.
ReplyDeleteI have a Yucca but not such an impressive specimen as this pink variety. I had no idea that it was a member of the Asparagus family.
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed seeing Laburnum trees and particularly like to see them when they are planted in rows along a pathway to form a golden arch at this time of year. I didn't know that the wood was perceived as being poisonous I had always understood previously that it was just the seeds.
The "Yucca" isn't actually a Yucca - it's a yucca-leaved Beschonia, though both are member of the Asparagus family. The seeds are the most poisonous part though all parts of the tree are poisonous to some extent. If the wood was particularly poisonous one would have thought that inhaling the sawdust created by sawing, turning and sanding the pipes might have been a problem.
DeleteLove the colors, the warmth of red and yellow. The bench does look so inviting.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful photos, John!
ReplyDeleteThe 'trifid' like plant is most unusual. The laburnum tree is lovely I hope you enjoyed sitting awhile underneath its branches:)
ReplyDeleteThe first plant grows everywhere here in New Zealand--Hubby and I call it a 'triffid' too!! The yellow flowers are simply gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThat bench is in the perfect spot! I've been spotting lots of bright laburnum trees everywhere I go this month. The Yucca leaved Beschonia is an unusual plant!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of either, and they are both beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHi John - I'd no idea the Yucca is related to asparagus - love the colours of it though. The laburnums are gorgeous aren't they ... we had one when I was growing up and remember being told to leave it alone as it would poison me in some way - I never tried! Lovely bench just in the right place ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteMy mother told me that if I looked up into a laburnum tree in flower and the pollen fell in my eyes, I would go blind!
ReplyDelete