Arthur’s Butterbur
On Saturday 4 March the SBRS AGM was held as usual at Staplefield. I live right over near the Hampshire border and Jill Oalkley lives over the border; so we usually join forces for the drive. We decided this year to leave earlier and go to see a very special plant at Borde Hill.
Petasites japonicus × fragrans, Giant Butterbur x Winter Heliotrope is a new hybrid found by Arthur Hoare and since verified thanks to his hard work and determination.[1] It has escaped from the garden but is long established on a bank beside a track. It is so new it is not yet in the books, so has no official common name, but I like to call it Arthur’s Butterbur.
Arthur was kind enough to give us very precise directions on where to find it plus another rare garden escape Calocerus decurrens, California Incense-cedar that has self-sown into a ha ha, both are easy to find just outside the gardens and there is a nice café for refreshments too.
Reference
- Desjardins, S. D., Hoare, A. G., & Stace, C. A. (2016). A new natural hybrid in the genus Petasites: P. japonicus × P. pyrenaicus (Asteraceae). New Journal of Botany, 6(2-3), 64-70. doi:10.1080/20423489.2016.1271383
See also: Hoare, Arthur. “New to science: Petasites japonicus x P. fragrans.” Sussex Botanical Recording Society Newsletter, no. 82 (May 2016).