Fockea crispa from Schönbrunn
The Fockea crispa by Schönbrunn is a specimen of the species Fockea crispa from the genus Fockea in the subfamily of the silk plants (Asclepiadoideae); it is considered the oldest pot plant in the world.
history
The plant was brought to Austria from South Africa by the expedition of the court gardener Franz Boos and his assistant Georg Scholl in 1799 and added to the plant collection of Emperor Joseph II in Schönbrunn Palace . The collection was later transferred to that of today's Austrian Federal Gardens . There the plant is still cultivated as a potted plant.
In the 19th century it was considered extinct in its region of origin. On the occasion of the world exhibition in Paris in 1900 it was presented there as a “living fossil” under a glass cover. It was not until 1906 that a wild specimen was discovered again in its natural habitat in South Africa, which could be identified in 1908 when it was blooming.
When air raids threatened Schönbrunn during the Second World War , a gardener took the plant home with him, where it survived the war undamaged on a windowsill.
The Fockea crispa from Schönbrunn is repotted only about every ten years . After that happened in 1970, it began to bloom again for the first time in almost 200 years in 1972 and formed three fruit pods. With the seeds contained in it, it was possible for the first time to propagate the Schönbrunn Fockea crispa .
Age
The age of the plant is now estimated to be more than 600 years. This makes it the oldest potted plant in the world. Usually it is in the Schönbrunn reserve garden.
literature
- Claudia Gröschel: Plant stories from the Cape of Good Hope . In: Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism (ed.): The green treasury. Festschrift Austrian Federal Gardens. 450 Years of Gardens and Plant Collections in Schönbrunn - 100 Years of Gardens of the Republic of Austria = special edition of Landreport , Vienna [2019], pp. 37–39.
- Ernst Zecher: The old lady of Schönbrunn, Fockea capensis Endl., Fockea crispa (Jacq.) K. Sch, attempt to present her story . Vienna 2008. Without ISBN, probably MS.
- H. Herre: Oldest and most famous succulent in Europe. In: The Cactus and Succulent Journal of Great Britain , Volume 11, Issue 2, 1949, pp. 30-31. JSTOR 45133527
- JSTOR data sheet.
Web links
- The Fockea crispa by Schönbrunn in the German-speaking forum for caudiciform and pachycaule plants ; accessed on September 27, 2019
- Page of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) on Fockea crispa von Schönbrunn from 2001 ; accessed on September 27, 2019