Shortia
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Shortia is a genus containing two species in the Diapensiaceae family.
| Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture |
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Shortia (named for Dr. Charles W. Short, a botanist of Kentucky). Diapensiaceae. Two acaulescent herbs, with the habit of galax. Rootstocks creeping: lvs. evergreen, round-cordate: fl. solitary on a slender leafless scape, the calyx with scaly bracts, the corolla bell-shaped and obtusely 5-lobed; stamens 5, the filaments adnate to the corolla, alternating with 5 scale-like staminodia; pistil 3-angled and 3-loculed; style filiform and stigma 3-lobed: fr. a globular caps. From this, Schizocodon is distinguished by linear-elongated staminodia and fringed corolla. Allied genera mentioned in this Cyclopedia are Galax, Pyxidanthera, and Schizocodon. Diapensia has two alpine and boreal species, one in the Himalayas and the other in N. Eu. and N. Amer. Berneuxia, the remaining genus, has a single species in Thibet, not in the American trade. Shortia californica of seedsmen will be found under Actinolepis. Of the little family Diapensiaceae, with its 6 genera and 9 species, Shortia galacifolia is historically the most interesting. Michaux collected the plant in 1788 in the high mountains of Carolina, but as his specimen was in fr. rather than in fl., Richard, the author of Michaux's Flora Boreali-Americana, did not describe it. Asa Gray examined Michaux's specimen, preserved in Paris, in 1839, and afterward founded the genus Shortia on it. Great search was made for the plant in the mountains of Carolina, but it was not rediscovered until 1877. The history of the efforts to find the plant is one of the most interesting chapters in American botany. For historical sketch, see Sargent, Garden and Forest, vol. 1, p. 506 (1888). Torrey & Gray founded the genus Shortia in 1842. In 1843, Siebold & Zuccarini founded the genus Schizocodon, from Japan. To this genus Maximowicz added a second Japanese species, S. uniflorus; the fls. of this plant, as of Shortia, were unknown when the plant was first recognized. It transpires, however, that S. uniflorus is really a Shortia, thus adding another instance to the growing list of bitypic genera that are endemic to Japan and E. N. Amer. Shortia, like most plants considered rare, is really not so rare as local, though the few stations where it is found abundantly do not seem to present special conditions not to be found elsewhere, and it is hardly understood why it should, in common with certain other plants, have remained strictly local, in an indigenous state. For the successful culture of shortia, humus and leaf-mold seem to be absolutely required, and it should either be planted where these conditions are natural or else be constantly supplied with this food. This suggestion, if carried out with many plants, such as galax, pyrola, chimaphila, and probably Epigaea repens, will ensure success, where if ordinary garden treatment only is given the entire disappearance of the plants may be expected in a season or two. Semi-double and pink-flowering plants are not rarely found, and it seems likely that cultivation may bring out several worthy varieties. In England shortia is often grown successfully as a pot-plant, and is far more appreciated than in America. It is difficult to procure seed, as the flowering-stem usually withers away before maturing, though shortia is readily propagated by division and runners. It is a shade-loving plant and is a choice addition to the ericaceous bed, where it will thrive under rhododendrons and kalmias. CH
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Cultivation
Propagation
Pests and diseases
Species
- Shortia galacifolia – Oconee bells
- Shortia galacifolia var. brevistyla Davies – Oconee bells
- Shortia galacifolia var. galacifolia – Oconee bells
- Shortia soldanelloides
- Shortia uniflora – Nippon bells
Gallery
photo 1
photo 2
photo 3
References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
