The History of Lapageria rosea at the University of California Botanical Garden

The wild form of Chilean bellflower (Lapageria rosea) climbing on the trunks of Azara integrifolia in the South American Area of the University of California Botanical Garden. Photographs by Carlos Rendon

[sidebar]. . . we began our collecting under the falls of the Rio Pilmaiquen. We gave attention, first, to el copihue but soon found that all the plants in sight were still in bud. This was a disappointment, but a glance at the rest of what was growing in the humid chasm was encouraging.

The heavy mists floating across the downpouring water and over the pools that it formed were continually blown downstream, as well as up the steep chasm walls. In this gentle bath, ferns, mosses, and other lowly plants luxuriated. . .

T Harper Goodspeed, Plant Hunters in the Andes, 1961[/sidebar]

Lapageria rosea ‘Beatrix Anderson’

The University of California Botanical Garden has a long history of cultivating Chilean bellflowers (Lapageria rosea). Known to Western science since the early part of the nineteenth century, the name Lapageria is...