Brunner Large-leaved

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Brunner large-leaved (lat. Brunnera macrophylla) - a rhizome herbaceous perennial of the Brunner genus (Latin Brunnera), belonging to the Borage family (Latin Boraginaceae). It blooms from mid-spring with small blue flowers, similar to Forget-me-not flowers, for which the plant was awarded the popular name"

Forget-me-not . Possesses spectacular large leaves. Varieties with heart-shaped variegated leaves, which are popular with gardeners, have been bred.

What's in your name

The Latin name of the genus "Brunnera" immortalizes the name of Samuel Brunner, a Swiss by birth, a doctor by training, but a botanist and naturalist by vocation. At the beginning of the 19th century, he made several trips to different places on our planet, about which he wrote reports in the form of books with information about what he saw, including about the flora of these places.

The specific epithet “macrophylla” (“large-leaved”) emphasizes the large leaves of this species, distinguishing it from other species of the genus. Although the leaves, for example, Brunner Siberian (lat. Brunnera sibirica) are also large, practically having the same size and shape. But the botanists manage to somehow separate them. True, in the English-language literature, these two names are considered synonyms of the same plant.

For the great similarity of the flowers of Brunner large-leaved with the flowers of the Forget-me-not, the plant is popularly called the “Forget-me-not”. Real Forget-me-nots bloom a little later than Brunner's large-leaved flowers.

Description

The basis for the longevity and endurance of Brunner's large-leaved is a rather thin (up to 1 centimeter thick) short black-brown rhizome, horizontally spreading underground. To increase its productivity in extracting nutrients from the soil for the aboveground part, adventitious filamentous roots extend from the rhizome.

The erect stem, covered with sparse short hairs, grows from 30 to 45 centimeters and is usually solitary. It emerges from a rosette of basal long-petiolate large leaves with a heart-shaped shape and an even edge. The dark green leaf surface becomes lighter on the reverse side, while fine bristly hairs cover the leaf on both sides.

The variegated large leaves of varieties bred by growers have a special flavor, which will decorate the flower garden in the absence of inflorescences.

The leaves sitting on the stem are not large in size and have a lanceolate shape with a sharp tip. Peduncles are born in the axils of the upper stem leaves. Small blue flowers with a white throat form paniculate inflorescences. Flowering begins in mid-spring and lasts eight to ten weeks, giving the impression that the spring heavenly blue has fallen temporarily to the sinful earth.

The crown of the growing season is a wrinkled nut-fruit with a sharp top.

Growing

Although the leaves remain on the surface until autumn, Brunner large-leaved still belongs to spring plants, and therefore loves loose and moist soils.

Since the plant prefers shade, when Brunner is planted under the crowns of trees, thereby favorable conditions for growth are provided. Indeed, in the spring there is already a shadow under the trees, as well as fertilization from leaves that have rotted over the winter and the still remaining spring soil moisture.

Such conditions save time and effort of the gardener, without distracting him to caring for the plant. The plant itself will give new shoots from seeds that have fallen into the soil or new shoots from buds on the rhizome. Care is required only when the overgrown curtain should be somewhat thinned out, or parts that have outlived their time should be removed in order to maintain the decorativeness of the flower garden. Dividing the curtain is best done in the fall.