|
Echium simplex (White Tower of Jewells) - A large perennial, biennial or sometimes a triennial (going 3 years) that has attractive silvery gray-green leaves that are covered in smooth hairs above and prominently veined below and are held in tight rosettes atop a short stem. After 2 to 3 years as an attractive foliage plant, a stout solitary unbranched and tapering inflorescence emerges that rises vertically 4 to 9 feet or more in late winter to mid spring bearing small white flowers densely held the entire length.
Plant in full sun and irrigate very little - it is a drought tolerant plant. Hardy to short duration temperatures to 20 to 25° F. A great foliage plant with the bonus of unusual flowers and, though the main plant dies after flowering, it usually perpetuates itself in the garden by seedling about. Useful also as an unusual container plant and when it flowers it is attractive to hummingbirds and to bees, which then reportedly produce a very distinctively flavored honey.
Echium simplex comes from the mountainous Anaga region in the north-east of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands. The genus name is from an ancient Greek word for the plant. It is derived from 'echion' with the root word 'echis' meaning "viper" but the reason for this has several interpretations. Included among these are the shape of the seed resembling that of a viper's head and from the age-old belief that Echium vulgare, a plant called Viper's Bugloss, was a remedy for the adder's bite. The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "simple" or "unbranched" in reference to the solitary unbranched inflorescence. Like the red flowering Echium wildpretii, which we also grow, this plant is also called Tower of Jewells and it is also called The Pride Of Tenerife and Arrebol Tajinaste.
Our thanks go out to Matthew Roberts, our Southern California outside salesman, who patiently allowed his plant to linger on past its prime in his garden so he could share its seed with us.
Information displayed on this page about Echium simplex is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
|
