Clusters of star-shaped flowers are snuggled into the leathery foliage. The blossoms have a very strong fragrance and come in a variety of tones from pure white to flushed pink and on into deeper purply pink. If fertilised, the flowers will go on to produce black ovoid berries.
In Dunedin Daphne bholua grows to about 2m, whereas in its natural habitat on the slopes of the Himalayas it can reach up to twice that height.
There are several plantings around the Dunedin Botanic Garden, including alongside the path near the Opoho Rd entrance to the rock garden. This patch of Daphne bholua is constantly changing as individual shrubs last only a few years, and the seedlings which appear under them replace the old plants with a variety of leaf shape, flower colour and plant habit.
Daphne bholua, along with other Daphne species native to the slopes of the Himalayas, are harvested by Nepalese to make lokta paper, a very durable paper used for centuries for anything from prayer flags to crafts and official documents.
There are further plantings in the winter flowering and fragrant thematic borders in the lower garden, and of course in the Himalayan collection in the upper garden.
Garden Life is produced by the Dunedin Botanic Garden. For more details, contact Robyn Abernethy
