Game time

You're still not thinking right :-))

This tree is famous . . . if not infamous . . and nearly as much detested as bradford pear . . if not more . . .

A Leyland cypress???? I had no idea they get THAT big?

Yep, Leyland Cypress, cultivar 'Haggerston Grey', planted 1906, in Kyloe Wood near Haggerston Castle.

The photo shows its exceptional suitability for widespread use in small urban gardens. Or perhaps not??

Resin

Oh, perfect. I can believe a foot a year, but I didn't realize it had been around that long.
I like them better than those Bradford pears, though. They smell better. :^)

...been googling...

Hi Claypa,

The other half of Leyland Cypress is of course Monterey Cypress (as a hybrid is half one parent, half the other parent)

What to call it . . . I'd favour Cupressus × leylandii as the safest option; the generic placing of Nootka Cypress is still disputed, but its original naming by D.Don as Cupressus nootkatensis is probably as safe as any.

What is fairly certain now is that Nootka Cypress is congeneric with the other New World cypresses (hence its ease of hybridising with them!).

What is not yet fully certain, is whether the New World cypresses (including also the Vietnamese Cypress) are congeneric with the Old World cypresses (e.g. Cupressus sempervirens). There is some evidence, not yet verified, that the New World cypresses may actually be more closely related to junipers than they are to the Old World cypresses (and thus need to be split out as a separate genus). Or possibly (again unverified) that it may be the Old World cypresses that are closer to junipers. The relationships of the three groups are close, but not yet fully resolved.

As the type species of Cupressus is C. sempervirens, that means that if the two groups are split, the Old World cypresses retain the name Cupressus, while the New World cypresses have to take a different name. Under the principles of priority (the oldest validly published name), this is Callitropsis, with the type species Callitropsis nootkatensis.

Two botanists have proposed that the synonymous newer name Xanthocyparis should be used instead (i.e., should be conserved by an edict of the next Botanical Congress in 2011), but whether this proposal will be accepted by the next Botanical Congress remains to be seen. By then, it should also be clearer whether the New World cypresses will need to be split, or not, too.

Resin

PS your turn to post the next quiz pic :-))

Next up

I feel bad about guessing this one so quickly without anyone else having a chance. I was skipping out of work shipping off some scionwood for grafting and saw this. Xanthoceras sorbifolium- a very fine plant, very easy to propagate from seed. Not that I have but one of my non-hort friends didn't know any better and got Xanthoceras grass in his seed tray. I have noticed a few small plants coming up around the trees at work but I always thought that they were root suckers so it doesn't seem to be as weedy as the germination rate might lead one to believe.

Regards,
Ernie

Don't feel bad Ernie! Kevin once nailed one of my photos within 2 minutes of it being posted (Magnolia ashei). But I'm confused by something, how did Xanthoceras "grass" cause seedlings to germinate in a seed tray?

Kevin, What a great shot! The plants you gave to me last year got in the garden last summer and are hanging right in there. Seem tough as nails, as we had a very hot dry spell shortly after they were planted and they never missed a beat. I knew the flowers were beautiful from photographs, but had no idea the plant was this floriferous. When is the bloom time, and for how long?

I'll post a picture too, now, for others to guess at.

Scott

Hi Scott,

Sorry about the confusing language. I meant that the seeds germinated so well that all of the seedlings looked like grass, figuratively speaking. Well, I'm stumped on this one. The foliage in the upper left hand corner had me thinking Magnolia but the lower right remind me of Myrica cerifera. Since they aren't very similar, I guessing that it's something else completely.

Stumped,
Ernie

How about Green Luster leaf Holly? Can't remember scientific name. Ilex something or other.

Leaf also remind s me of one of the Azaleas too with that single point but don't se e any puby hair s on top of leaf.

Hmmm, does sort of look like R. vaseyi. Maybe you're on to something starlight.

Hint: Not a holly or rhodie. Member of the Rosaceae. I believe it was a much more popular shrub in the past. Not so much now.

Scott

Does it have fruit like this?

Resin

Resin,

You got me on that one. I have never seen the fruit. In fact, I'm not sure it sets fruit. This could be a hint, by the way. However, if it did set fruit, from what I know, the fruit would be a five sectioned capsule.

Scott

Scott:

Could it be Exochorda racemosa?

Ernie:

Guess via dmail if you want the game to last longer.

I'm going to pre-emptively start a new thread, since this one is approaching 100 posts.

You can find it here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/691797/

My pic is Mespilus germanica (Medlar). Not really a capsule.

Resin

I thought Rhododendron at first, too, but not enough to post a guess in that department. After the Rosaceae hint I figured Maloideae but I never found it.

Viburnum Valley got close enough to do damage. Exochorda x macrantha "The Bride."

Scott

The only thing I can think of based on Decumbent's hints is Pearlbush (Exochorda racemosa). Although the leaves in your photo look a little bigger than I'd expect.

D'oh!
I must of been typing at the same time you were posting Decumbent.

Oh and used to have this shrub and didn't recognize it!