The flowers of Rhododendron thomsonii
Researching the plant featured in today’s photograph seems to have helped resolve much of a long-standing mystery: why is there a Beer Trail in UBC Botanical Garden? And what does that have to do with a photo of Obama in Asheville, North Carolina?
Dr. Thomson’s rhododendron is native to India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. It was first posted on Botany Photo of the Day almost fifteen years ago in this entry which highlights the bark: Rhododendron thomsonii. In the time since that entry, a number of excellent resources about this much-treasured rhododendron have been written, including this highly-recommended article on Rhododendron thomsonii by John Grimshaw. Not only does Grimshaw discuss the introduction into British horticulture of this rhododendron and others, but he has also shared an illustration of Dr. Thomson. If you would like additional photographs of this species, see Rhododendron thomsonii in RBGE’s Botanics Stories or Oregon State University’s profile page for Dr. Thomson’s rhododendron as a landscape plant.
The particular plant in today’s photograph was grown from seed collected during the Bangor Nepal Expedition of 1971, one of thirty or so accessions from that expedition at UBC. For the sake of anyone researching this expedition further, it should actually be noted that the expedition was twofold: one part agricultural, one part horticultural. I stumbled upon some agricultural data online from the expedition, which left me initially confused until I read the article about the two foci in the Aug 19, 1971 issue of New Scientist (page 427).
Every trail in the David C. Lam Asian Garden is named and wayfinding-signed for a plant explorer who collected in Asia at one time. Almost all of these explorers are well-known (or at least findable by a web search): Fortune, Forrest, Tschonoski, Hu, and so on. But there has been one for which the institutional memory was lost with the 2008 passing of one of UBC BG’s most prominent plant explorers, Peter Wharton: Beer Trail (and that name is definitely not search engine friendly–try searching “beer plant collector”…). Who was Beer, though?
First of all, it is important to note that in our previous collections database, the information about the specific collectors in an expedition was visually buried. Looking at our modern database, it is there in black and white: Len Beer was one of the three horticultural collectors in the 1971 Bangor Nepal Expedition, along with famous plantsman Roy Lancaster and David Morris. I figured this out in a roundabout way, though, through my searches about the Bangor Nepal Expedition. It is exceedingly likely that Peter Wharton knew Len Beer, as Wharton was a Bangor graduate and would have been at the university at or near the time Len Beer was planning and completing the expedition.
Peter Wharton is commemorated with an occasional special lecture in his name; the same is true for Len Beer. Douglas Justice helped with this entry by finding this snippet via the May 2010 newsletter of the Friends of Treborth Botanic Garden:
1976 also marked Len’s departure [as curator of Treborth Botanic Garden from 1965 to 1976] to take up an equivalent post at Durham University Botanic Garden. Tragically Len died the following year aged just 34, a terrible loss for all who knew him and for horticulture generally. In memory of his plantsmanship a series of annual lectures were instigated in the early 1980s for which the first speaker was the renowned Roy Lancaster who had accompanied Len on perhaps his best-known Himalayan plant hunting trip in 1971. Each year since a horticultural luminary has widened our horizons and the Len Beer Lecture is firmly established as the foremost horticultural talk on the North Wales scene. It is jointly organised and funded by the Friends of Treborth Botanic Garden and the N Wales branch of the Alpine Garden Society.
Having resolved the mystery of Beer Trail, you can likely see where this is headed. The Beer Trail sign is one of the most photographed non-plant objects in the Garden, by locals and visitors alike. Still, imagine my surprise in 2011 while scouting for large-capacity restaurants for a plant & garden tour in the southeastern United States when I walked into 12 Bones Smokehouse (which the guidebooks had said was one of Obama’s favourites)…
Beer Trail Sign
Obama with 12 Bones Staff
All together now
What a wonderful bit of history. Thanks for sharing.
Very interesting article, always good to see ‘non-plantfolks’ take an interest in plants, even if it is through beer!
I first encountered the Rhododendron featured here through a peculiar and perhaps unusual case of honey bee toxicity on the incredibly beautiful Island of Colonsay. (Southern Hebrides, Scotland). Here the beekeeper showed me the garden where it happened and apparently the bees were gathering nectar from this particular species and subsequently perished.
It’s a very special place indeed as after Andrew brought his bees over to the Island many years ago, he was smart enough to try and preserve the stock (native black bee) he had and was successful. So isolating it from other pests and diseases of other honey bees and also from crossing with a different sub-species of Apis mellifera which would then change the stock he had.
No other stock is allowed on Colonsay and he is the only beekeeper. Contrary to some beliefs about the black bee, they are more gentle than many might think and even better; they don’t have any of the pesky Varroa mites, as he arrived on the Island before they were discovered on the mainland and the stock he brought over was thus mite free and remains so!
A story where isolation can be a good thing!
Thanks for showing some social connections during this time of social distancing!
Thank you for such a satisfying post! I particularly admire the way you have used light and shadow to emphasise the brilliance of the crimson color. The rhododendron is stunning in its woodland setting as shown in the Oregon State pictures. But I for one would appreciate a plant label delineating any possible bee toxicity.
As a former honeybee keeper I remember that all plants in the genus Rhododendron (and maybe the whole family Ericaceae) are toxic to bees, but it was never clear how much exposure the bees could tolerate, if any.
Not all of the /ericaceae, after all the Calluna’s that thrive in Northern Uk produce some of the finest honey.
Agreed! As do Arbutus, I believe.
Rhododendron honey that is toxic to humans is produced by bees in Turkey and Nepal. Those bees must be able to tolerate a certain level of the toxins.
Not all of the Ericaceae produce grayanotoxins and I believe some Rhododendrons produce a higher concentrayion than others..
Yeah in my neck of the woods mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) shares the rhodo chemistry and is also quite toxic. But plenty of Ericaceae are fine – e.g. Vaccinium (blueberries and related plants)!
At our RHS Rhododendron, Camellia & Magnolia Group South West Branch Autumn meeting in North Devon last October, our guest speaker was Roy Lancaster and during his talk on his plant introductions from the 1971 expedition you mentioned, he paid special tribute to Len Beer who was a Devonian by birth and showed a photograph of Rhododendron hodgsonii which was introduced by the three explorers; Morris Beer and Lancaster with the number BLM 323
Fantastic detective work and great story to go with this gorgeous shot of R. thomsonii. Darts Hill Garden has one specimen listed on our Inventory growing in Bed 13 and noted as grown from “seed collected from the wild India/Nepal”. One (maybe) could surmise that this seed came from this 1971 Expedition. Douglas would know more about the relationship Francisca Darts had with UBC Botanical Garden during Roy Lancaster’s time. Good time to go searching for and photograph this beauty.
and here I thought it was going to be another species of Rhododendron that was used to flavour beer!
A superb species that gives colour so early in Spring. Does well along our Nova Scotian Atlantic coast. It has everything – amazing leaves, extraordinary bark and long-lasting clear red flowers that grace the ground beneath when they drop. Best to avoid planting it where it gets the earliest rising sun to avoid frosted flowers. The Ludlow & Sherrif form shown.
john
halifax, ns
z6b
And a close-up of an RSF seedling near Halifax.
john
What a joy it is to have Botany Photo of the Day arrive in my in-box. Thank you Daniel
Thanks Daniel for the lovely photo and the history lesson.
At this time, all cooped up in my house with about 45 cm of snow on the ground, I am appreciating the posts more than ever. I remember the rhodo garden at University of Victoria way back when I was a student and miss this genus as we only get an occasional glimpse here in Edmonton.
Ann
A May 1991 Atlantic magazine article, “infectious Terrorism”, recounted a war in 67 B.C. when the Roman general Pompey set out to conquer King Mithridates of Pontus. Since the armies foraged for their food, Mithridates’ chief adviser, the Greek physician Kateuas, who was an expert on the medicinal uses of plants, counseled Mithridates to plan a strategic retreat which would allow the superior Roman army to camp in an area known for certain species of rhododendrons that produced “mad honey”–honey containing grayanotoxins which cause loss of muscle control and other debilitating symptoms. This allowed Mithridates to attack.
The article is still available on line and also warns about mad-honey poisoning also occurring in the Pacific Northwest. I live in Washington state and have not heard of any such cases. Yet.
Last night, March 27th, I watched a video from the Banff Film Festival on a honey bee collector in Nepal. The scenery is incredible and the courage required to collect the honey is even more so!