Sunday, June 19, 2016

Exacum trinervium 'Kandy'



Exacum trinervium 'Kandy' 

Exacum trinervium 'Kandy' 


Wow! Wow! Wow!
The color on this one is hard to believe! And the images above do not do it justice. It reminds me of the color of some Tibouchina.
What is it? It's a species of Exacum which will be new to most of us. The genus Exacum has been represented in gardens for a long time by the tender winter annual Exacum affine . This was grown (as a winter window plant) for its light blue flowers and sweet scent. It's native to Socotra, a relatively isolated island now a part of Yemen.
Exacum trinervium on the other hand is native to Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and some wikipedia accounts suggest that it is threatened in nature.
These plants are members of the gentian family.
The cultivar name 'Kandy' will probably suggest "eye candy" to some people, others will probably assume  it's one of these annoying misspellings which attempt to be cute, but I'll bet it is a pun on an ancient name of Ceylon: the Kingdom of Kandy.

1 comment:

Scheherazade said...

Thanks for your info on Exacum trinervium Kandy A totally new plant to me and in googling it I found your picture and text on it. Interesting article. Enjoyed it. I rescued this small plant with a couple of buds on it from the mark down tray at a store. It didn't look anything like exacum affine, so I wanted to know more and try to give it a boost. Will place in a sunny east window, with the porous pot in a dish that holds water so it will be watered at the roots, and not overwatered, like my african violet. I wonder if it would respond to the same "African Violet" food. Anyway, appreciated your site.