Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Who was Edith Colea?

She has a botanical  genus  named after her which contains a single species.  Edithcolea grandis is a member of the Stapeliad family. I am fortunate to have one on my back porch which bloomed last year. Edith Cole was a member of the party that discovered the plant in Somalia in 1895 and it was named in her honor.  I received my E. grandis indirectly from Dr. Gerald Barad who is a world known grower and researcher on Stapeliads. I have heard him speak at Cactus & Succulent Shows and was able to visit his place in Pennsylvania a few years ago.
His website can be seen at http://www.cactus-mall.com/stapeliad/picture7.html.

What a spectacular flower it has.

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