Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Plant Identification => Plant Identification Questions and Answers => Topic started by: Gerdk on June 15, 2009, 11:08:24 AM

Title: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Gerdk on June 15, 2009, 11:08:24 AM

I just presented the following pics at the end of a sequel of photos from the 'Flora', Cologne.

This is a treelike shrub of  a height of about 4 m. It seems it is evergreen and the flowers are
scented.
I would like to know what species it is. Any help welcome!

Gerd

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: johnw on June 15, 2009, 11:57:24 AM

Could it be Trochodendron aralioides?

johnw

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Maggi Young on June 15, 2009, 12:12:59 PM

I don't think so, John. Gerd's pix show petals on the flowers....and they are very white.

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: johnw on June 15, 2009, 05:07:45 PM

Quite right Maggi. I found a pic of the Troch flowers.

johnw

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Maggi Young on June 15, 2009, 06:01:58 PM

Yes, those are like little broccoli heads, aren't they?  ;D

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Onion on June 15, 2009, 07:36:59 PM

Gerd,

I think it is a viburnum (Snowball). From the pictures you show it must be V. henryi.

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Maggi Young on June 15, 2009, 08:25:17 PM

Yes, Uli,you have it there......
http://www.biologie.uni-ulm.de/systax/dendrologie/vibhenrflw.htm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/growin/2237302225/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/growin/2759099003/in/set-72157594393374393/

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Gerdk on June 15, 2009, 08:45:21 PM

Quote from: Onion on June 15, 2009, 07:36:59 PM

Gerd,
I think it is a viburnum (Snowball). From the pictures you show it must be V. henryi.

Uli, I take my hat off to you! It is indeed an evergreen snowball - great to have specialists
here for all kind of plants!

Gerd

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Onion on June 15, 2009, 09:31:43 PM

Gerd,

the snowballs are one of the four to five woody genus I'm very intrested. My first V. henryi I saw in the Rombergpark of Dortmund. Hope to visit the Flora in August.

Uli

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Maggi Young on June 26, 2009, 03:08:24 PM

Uli.... and all you other clever persons.......
another unknown scented schrub for you to help name,  please  :)

This was grown  from seed collected outside a hotel in Portugal..... though of course it may not be Portuguese! :-\
It smells like a lovely Daphne, but it has five sepals  which are not connected at the base; it  looks a bit like a Drimys or Pseudwintera, but we don't really think it is one of those, either  :-X :-\Can it be another Viburnum?  ???
Hope you can help!  The flower scent is delightful, almost like orange blossom, leaves evergreen, with a "don't eat me smell" when crushed.
click the pix to enlarge.....

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: arisaema on June 26, 2009, 03:19:46 PM

A Pittosporum perhaps? Is it fully hardy for you outside?

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Maggi Young on June 26, 2009, 03:26:13 PM

It's not mine: just given the sprig you see in the vase to identify. Survived a few winters in Scotland  so far.... so more hardy than some of the possiblities I've considered so far!!

The leaves are more substantial than most Pittosporum I know... more leathery, somehow.
Do Pittosporum have scented flowers? (I don't think I have ever seen the varieties that grow in gardens around here actually make flowers... perhaps too cold for them? Those types are manily the variegated sort with spoon-shaped leaves))

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Maggi Young on June 26, 2009, 03:38:07 PM

Ian and I both studying the twig now....  Arisaema, you have got it exactly right!
Perhaps Pittosporum tobira?
It is not a plant which I have seen grown around here. Thanks!!  Marvelous what can be found outside holiday hotels, isn't it  ? !

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Paddy Tobin on June 26, 2009, 07:25:54 PM

Maggi,

I grow two Pittosporum tobira here, a normal  one and a small sized one, smaller leaves, growth etc. It's not a shrub I stop by to smell but it is a good green background filler.

Paddy

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Maggi Young on June 26, 2009, 07:42:08 PM

Thanks for that, Paddy. The scent on this one is really fantastic.... I would think you would catch a whiff on the air and then seek out the source. Might this P. tobira be a correct "spy" , then?

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Roma on June 26, 2009, 10:10:50 PM

We used to grow Pittosporum tobira  in a pot in the greenhouse at the Cruick shank Garden.  It looked very like your pic and was scented.

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Onion on June 27, 2009, 10:26:55 AM

Maggi,

I agree too. When I see the first pictures i think it looks like Pittosporum tobira. We cultivate it in the nursery I work. The plants survived the last winter in pots, in an unheated plastic-house with -10 Celsius.

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Maggi Young on June 27, 2009, 11:03:56 AM

Many thanks for your help, Friends  8) :-*

I will pass on the name to the puzzled grower...... and see if I can put roots on the sample!!  ;D

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: maggiepie on June 27, 2009, 01:48:55 PM

Maggi, could it possibly be a choisya ?
http://www.tinytreasuresnursery.com/Plant%20Pages/Choisya%20Aztec%20Pearl.htm

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Maggi Young on June 27, 2009, 02:08:05 PM

Thanks, Helen: but no, the leaves are not joined in the "hand" system that the Choisyia are.

Title: Re: Unknown scented tree
Post by: Paul T on June 27, 2009, 10:48:02 PM

I must admit I thought Choisya myself, until I realised the leaves were wrong.  The flowers are so close to the Choisyia in appearance.  :o