Pyracantha

Since I've already spent some time lately revisiting last autumn's trip to Paris, I may as well stay there for a few more days.

Here's a shot of Pyracantha coccinea, or firethorn, growing in the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.


I'm not sure that firethorn is a plant that I would jump to use in a planting plan, but you do enjoy its fruit this time of year. As you can see, the plant has a generous bounty of berry-like pomes each fall. Depending on the cultivar, you can get the fruit in shades of orange or red.

Firethorn is a direct translation of the genus name. Pyra- refers to fire, and -cantha, when used in plant nomenclature, typically means thorn or spine.

Fontainebleau

I try to keep these posts seasonal, so I have been waiting for autumn to arrive before posting any photos of my trip to Fontainebleau last October.


Fontainebleau Palace is a short train ride away from Paris, and is one of the larger French chateaux. It abuts the Fontainebleau forest, and thus was a popular destination for royals to hunt game.


The site demonstrates most of the classical design fundamentals you would experience in the more famous chateaux of Versailles or Vaux le Vicomte.


Long allees or canals are sited on axis with fountains and other similar punctuation marks.



There's a very clear line between the landscape that has been contained or controlled by man and the woods that are kept at bay beyond.


And of course, sculpture and topiary -- essentially a sculpture of plants -- are utilized in the formal gardens.

Finally, tiers of varying elevation create the experience of limitless landscape.


It's a beautiful landscape and on the other side of the chateau more intimate gardens exist, complete with plant ID tags, which is always helpful when you are among potentially unfamilar plants.

Asters

Here we have yesterday's goldenrod, growing harmoniously next to an aster, most likely Aster novae-angliae, or New England aster.

Sharp plantsmen will be thinking right now, 'But it's not an Aster any more.' And that's true. These days, most North American asters are now in the Symphyotrichum genus, which is decidedly more of a mouthful.

For a time, there were 600 different species of Aster globally, which could become quite confusing. So, after studying the plant structure more closely, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group reclassified these plants into new genera. Technically, European asters are the only plants that belong in the Aster genus, though nurserymen still refer to the new world plants as Aster, too.


The word Aster derives from the Greek word astron, which means 'star', and most likely refers to the flower structure. In fact, all geni in the Asteraceae family are characterized by their showy flowers, commonly called composite flowers.

If you look at the photo above, what appears to be one flower is actually a collection of hundreds of flowers. Composite flowers are a collection of many small, teeny-tiny flowers. In fact, there are two types of flowers in this photo above. The purple 'petals' are ray flowers and the yellow 'petals' make up the disc flowers.

The aster beds at the Jardin du Plantes in Paris

This kind of adaptation is relatively young in the world of flowering plants (angiosperms) and it's very successful. That's why so many 'weeds' have a daisy or aster like flower. The great increase in flower quantity is a surefire way to ensure a plant's success.

Goldenrod

First of all, how beautiful and evocative is the common name, goldenrod? The genus name is equally so, Solidago.


The plants above are blooming in the small garden I've mentioned previously near Manhattan's entry to the Brooklyn Bridge.



I used to mistakenly suspect the Latin name was referring to goldenrod's sunny yellow flowers. But, in fact, the root of the name is derived from solidus, meaning whole or (obviously) solid. The healing properties that some believe goldenrod held inspired Linnaeus himself to call this plant Solidago.

Here's another specimen growing in northern Connecticut:


I'm fairly certain that this is Solidago canadensis or Canadian goldenrod, though a handful of different species can grow in this area, all fairly similar-looking.


There are 100 species of goldenrod, total. They are primarily native to the Americas, though some are found in Asia.

In addition to their alleged healing properties, Solidago also has a natural rubber in its fibers -- in fact the tires of the Model T were made from goldenrod.