Amazing plants
Toadflax – or not?
When Carl Linnaeus discovered the ”peloria” he touched momentarily on the idea that new species can arise in nature, as opposed to the then prevailing view that all species were created by God on a single occasion. He thought that ”peloria” was a new species that had arisen from toadflax, Linaria vulgaris.
Linnaeus and the Peloria
Foto: Magnus Lidén
In 1744, Linnaeus heard of a flower nobody had ever seen before. It had many similarities with toadflax (Linaria vulgaris), but the flower looked completely different, with radial symmetry instead of the normal zygomorphic symmetry of toadflax. Linnaeus was curious about this plant and asked one of his students to collected one which he planted in the University garden (the Linnaeus Garden). Unfortunately it soon withered, but not before Linnaeus had time to discover something interesting. Despite the strangeness of the flower, the plant itself was essentially identical to toadflax. He concluded that it was a hybrid of toadflax and some other unknown flower.
His discovery was momentous: it appeared to show that new species could arise in nature. He chose to call his new plant Peloria, Greek for ”monster” or ”prodigy”.
Today we know that Peloria isn’t a separate species, but simply toadflax with a mutation in one particular gene. The flower fascinated Linnaeus so much that he had it planted at his summer residence in Hammarby. You can from time to time see it growing in the raised bed by the entrance to the dwelling house at Linnaeus Hammarby.
Tulipa sylvestris – Wild tulip
The wild tulip is a botanical heritage from the time of Olof Rudbeck the elder. It has a lovely fragrance and blooms almost every year both in the Linnaeus Garden and at Linnaeus’ Hammarby.
Wild tulip – a botanic heritage
Olof Rudbeck the Elder grew the wild tulip (Tulipa sylvestris) in Sweden’s first botanic garden. Linnaeus described it almost a century later, and it is still growing in the Linnaeus Garden today. It is a rather shy-flowering species, but when the graceful flowers do appear they spread a delightful fragrance.
There are about a hundred species of tulips, but tens of thousands of cultivars. The majority of our garden tulips are assigned to Tulipa gesneriana, which is more a collection of hybrids than a true species. In Rudbeck’s botanic garden there were more than 40 varieties of tulips.
'Linnaeus’ Apple'
At Linnaeus’ Hammarby we grow about 30 varieties of fruit, mostly from the Mälaren valley. An exception is the variety ”Linnaeus’ Apple”, which was registered at the horticultural research stations of Alnarp and Balsgård under this name and is said to have come originally from Stenbrohult.
How to recognise Linnaeus' apple
Linnaeus’s apple is a medium-sized apple variety with a yellow to reddish, slightly greasy, glossy skin. The flesh is yellowish white, of a firm consistensy, with a sweet and somewhat acidic flavour. Most people describe the aroma as good. The apple is picked in October and can only be stored for about a month without loss of quality. Flowering is moderately early. Linnaeus’s apple is good both as a cooking and eating apple.
"Linnaeus’s apple” is one of about 30 varieties of fruit grown in a clone archive at Linnaeus’s Hammarby.