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Charles
Plumier discovered the begonia in 1690, not as some may believe Michel
Begon. Plumier only drew and described the plants, it's quite sure
he didn't bring any plant, roots or seed back to France. Contrary to
belief Michel Begon had never seen a begonia. Charles Plumier a
Franciscan minimum monk, botanist and drawer will discover 6 small
herbaceous plants. He will find them to be alike and name them Begonia
to pay homage to his benefactor on returning to France. Begon on Louis
xiv request organised an exhibition to the West Indies. It was the first
time a plant was dedicated to someone and Plumier can be considered as
the inventor of botanical dedication. Others that Plumier dedicated was
the Fuchsia to Dr Leonard Fuchs, Magnolia Grandiflora to Pierre Magnol
and
the Lobelia in remembrance of botanist Mathis De L'Obel. There was some
known species before Plumier's discoveries B Gracillis HBK discovered in
Mexico in 1557 described under the name Totoncaxoxo Coyollin by
Hernandez from Spain. Some others to name B Grandis from China B
Malabarica Lamarck from India.
Today the genus Begonia holds in fact a world record with 1,550
botanical Begonia species subspecies forms & varieties ( Fort Worth
Texas check list 1990 ) and the last check list for hybrids 15,000. The
Rochefort Conservatory include few traditional Begonias, on the contrary
it presents the unknown, the forgotten, the discovery, and the imaginary
African miniatures about 5 cm to South American giants 5 meters tall.
It's in fact a shop window of tropical ecology. Even for the experienced
horticulturist for the most famous botanist who come to discover the
diversity of the species. Efforts since 1987 have been concentrated
on botanical and horticultural observation of the collection , the reaction
to up to date technology & materials. Also the study on nutrition, how
to recognise deficiency symptoms, the influence of pruning. The first
necessity is to try and acclimatise any new plant. Most of the time
botanical species arrive without precise indications of their biotope. |
