Metapanawhat?!??

It was at a local nursery "of questionable Means" that I first spotted this plant. It was rather shopworn and looked to be near death. I didn't take a photo and chalked the name up to a labeling mistake, thinking no one who knew better was around to correct it.

But wait a minute there Ms. Smarty Uppity Thinks She Knows Everything Pants (on fire!)...whadda ya think when you see a healthy specimen of the same plant with that same name at your local Garden Fever HUH? Then you take note DON'T YOU?

Yes, yes I do.

Meet Metapanax davidii, which evidently is a real plant...not just some "other plant" mislabeled Metapanax delavayi, spelled wrong.

Follow me there? The first time I saw it I didn't even catch the spelling error and read Metapanax delavayi, even when it clearly says davidii. And dismissed it as a wrong label on a sick looking plant.

Now that I know it's a real plant I'm slightly miffed at Those Who Name. What's up with using two such similar and thus (I feel) confusing species names?

Here's my Metapanax delavayi, which I adore.


davidii - from Horticulture - Plant Names Explained: Botanical Terms and Their Meaning by David & Charles: davidii, davidianum named for the French missionary and plant collector Abbe Jean Pierre Armand David (1826 - 1900)

delavayi - (from the same book): delavayi, delavayanus named for the French botanist and missionary Jean Marie Delavay (1834 - 1895)

Ya that clears it up. Please tell me I'm not the only one who finds this confusing!

All material © 2009-2016 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.