Lottah Nursery Tasmania, Australia
Syn. 'Paper Daphne', 'Lokta'
This is one of the largest of daphnes with plants in the wild reported to grow in excess of 5 m high. Under cultivation it is a vigorous shrub with almost fastigate growth when young.
Appears to be commonplace in its native habitat in the Himalayas since the bark was used for making paper and rope.
There is much variability within Daphne bholua from different sources; plants may be evergreen, deciduous or partially so, and flowers range from white to deep purple.
Several clones are available:
'Jacqueline Postill', pictured
on left, was selected by Alan Postill in 1982 from a seedling of
'Gurkha'. It is easily the most popular cultivar with masses of
purple-pink flowers over 22 mm across in mid-Winter, four weeks before
odora, spreading a powerful fragrance that extends for some
considerable distance. It continues flowering for over 8 weeks into
mid-August. Mature size would be around 2 m high and half that
across.
A white form, 'f. albiflora', often referred to
as D. bholua 'Alba', is reported to make a more compact shrub;
it is pictured at bottom left. First flowering in the greenhouse was
several weeks later than 'Jacqueline Postill' grown outdoors, and
extended well into October; young plants were much more floriferous than
the former.
Although near deciduous at Lottah, we have observed the same clone to be partially evergreen a few km. down the road at a warmer location (a different rootstock may have some bearing on this).
(click on thumbnails for larger images)
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7603 (2, 6, 12, 412)