A Vignette of Botany in the Age of Enlightenment: The Story of Catesby's Climber or the Carolina Kidney Bean Tree,Wisteria Frutescens (original) (raw)

2015, Curtis's Botanical Magazine

The history of Wisteria frutescens (L.) Poir. is discussed, with particular reference to those associated with its discovery in South Carolina, its transmission to Europe, and its initial cultivation in England and the Dutch Republic. A brief appraisal is given of those natural historians associated with the species in the interconnected worlds of medicine, botany, botanical art and horticulture in the early 18th century whose efforts enabled the Carolina kidney bean tree to be discovered, described and distributed. A description of Wisteria frutescens, with a key to the two varieties, is provided. A lectotype is chosen for the name Glycine frutescens var. magnifica Hérincq and neotypes are selected for the names Diplonyx elegans Raf. and Thyrsanthus floridana Croom. Reference One: Linnaeus and Clifford's Garden Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778). In the protologue for Glycine frutescens L., his second species of Glycine in Species Plantarum, Linnaeus's phrase name read 'Glycine foliis pinnatis, caule perenni' [Glycine with perennial stems and pinnate leaves] (Linnaeus, 1753: 753). He listed two references to earlier works next to his phrase name: Hort. Cliff. 361, and Roy. Lugdb. 391. He then cited the additional phrase name: 'Phaseoloides frutescens Caroliniana, foliis pinnatis, floribus caeruleis conglomeratis' [shrubby Phaseoloides from Carolina with pinnate leaves and blue flowers in clusters] and then added a third reference: 'Hort. Angl. 55 t.15' and finally 'Habitat in Carolina'. The first reference, Linnaeus's Hortus Cliffortianus (Linnaeus, 1738: 361), described the rare plants grown in the garden at De Hartekamp, Heemstede, near Haarlem in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands [Dutch Republic], the home of George Clifford (III), a rich banking magnate from Amsterdam. George Clifford (1685-1760). George Clifford's grandfather, also George Clifford (I) had moved from Cambridge, where the family originated, to Amsterdam settling on the Zeedijk in the centre of the old city, as a successful banker with extra income arising from a sugar plantation that he had bought in Barbados (Harskamp, 2012). His son George Clifford (II) was a director