Plant of the day is: Morina longifolia or Himalayan whorlflower

Plant of the day is: Morina longifolia or Himalayan whorlflower

This plant spins me right round.

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Not hard to see why they call it the whorl flower.  There seem to be a bunch of flowers circling the stem, in some kind of a whorl like fashion.  Fascinating.

Taxonomy:  Until fairly recently this genus occupied the family Morinaceae and was the the only genus (monotypic).  It has now been moved into the significantly larger Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family which includes such favorites as Abelia, Centranthus, Cephalaria, Kolkwitzia (long time since I've spelled that), Valeriana, Weigela, and who could forget the crowd favorite Lonicera.  A lot of Caprifoliaceae members in cultivation now that I look at it.  Pretty neat.  I planted Weigela today and watered Valeriana.  Anyways, there are about 12 recognized species in Morina so it is a fairly small group of interesting plants.  M. persica is taller with spinier foliage and M. coulteriana has pale yellow flowers.

Description:  Flowers in the family are generally tubular funnel shaped or bell like and these follow suit.  We'll go with trumpet shaped, which is how they are described often enough.  Flowers tend to start more white and then fade to a pink/crimson color.  It is a hardy perennial in zones 5-9 (ish) which reaches about 1m in height and about .4m wide.  As you may have guessed it originates from the Himalayas from Kashmir to Bhutan at altitudes of around 3000-4000m and flowers from June-September.  Has linear/lanceolate leaves that are dark green and a bit glossy.  Mind the spines!  The leaves have spines along the leaf margins, there are selections of this plant and it seems to be slightly variable in terms of their severity.  The bracts are quite noticeable as well and really remind of a kind of Jetson's platform for the flowers.

                                  

Just lovely that is.

Culture:  Likes pretty moist loamy soils and will handle light open wood shade to full sun.  Can be easily grown from stored seed and germinates in around two weeks.  They do have decent sized cotyledons and germinate with a vigor so if you start them in a small cell/container be prepared to transplant into something larger VERY soon.  They DO have a taproot that travels several centimeters in a very short time.  Does not divide well.  In the Saint Louis summer I should think a little shade in the late afternoon would be a relief.  Well drained soil is really the key though.  

Random fun stuff:  The leaves reportedly have a spicy citrus kind of a scent to them, can't wait to try!  I read something that suggested they might irritate skin as well soooo maybe a mixed bag?  The stem, leaves, and flowers are used in Tibetan medicine and are said to have a sweet and astringent taste (I will not be eating them).  Named after this cool French physician and botanist (seems to be a trend for that really) named Rene Morin who has the fantastic distinction of producing, in 1621, the world's first plant catalog, Catalogus plantarum horti Renati Morini.

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And one last fun fact:  In what I consider a brilliant move, yes very well done, the fertilized flowers change to darker colors so that pollinators are continually attracted to the newer flowers to help with maximum fertilization and seed production.  Isn't it great, how everything in nature has this wonderful place and strategy.  Brings a smile to my face.

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