The birth of the gerbera owes everything to a man whose family had a mine
The gerberais a fairly common flower that easily leaves a deep impression. If you happen to pass by a newly opened shop, you will very likely spot them in the flower baskets hanging at the door with "Grand Opening" signs.
The gerberas in the flower baskets are varieties used for cut flowers. So-called cut flowers are fresh flowers cut from the plant together with their stems for use. After all, many people look at flowers but few grow them, and cutting the flowers lets everyone enjoy them. The most famous traditional cut flowers are the Chinese rose, chrysanthemum, gladiolus and carnation, collectively known as the world's four great cut flowers.
But everyone says, isn't it common knowledge that the Four Heavenly Kings have five members? That's right, today's protagonist, the gerbera, isthe fifth member of the four great cut flowers。
Gerbera. Image: Hanxiao
Its hometown is in Africa
As the name suggests, the gerberais native to Africa, though it also has relatives in China. The gerbera belongs to the genus Gerbera, formerly called the genus Leibnitzia; the "genus head," Leibnitzia anandria (G. anandria), is widely distributed across China. Its leaves, like those of the gerbera, are all basal and pressed flat to the ground, with a single flower head blooming on a slender scape, looking like a miniature gerbera overall.
Leibnitzia anandria. Image: Hanxiao
Unfortunately, Leibnitzia anandria is not an honest fellow; its low-spec gerbera appearance only appears in spring, and by autumn it transforms into another look entirely. As a result, L. anandria and several other species withspring-autumn dimorphismwere moved out of the genus Gerbera.
The group owner got kicked out of the group,so they just had to change the group name, and Gerbera was promptly renamed the genus Gerbera (Huoshihua). Although L. anandria left, the gerbera still has some Chinese relatives, though they are relatively rare, basically all in Yunnan.
An orange gerbera. Image: Fan Wen / wikimedia
The road to breeding
The discovery of the gerbera should be credited to Robert Jameson, aplant enthusiast whose family truly had a mine. At the end of the 19th century, he was mining gold in the Barberton region of South Africa when he accidentally discovered some beautiful wildflowers growing around the gold mine, so he collected some and sent them to a botanical garden. After experts determined this was a new species, it was named jamesonii in tribute.
Jameson, whose family had a mine. Image: gerbera.org
Thus the gerbera also got the English name Barberton Daisy. Image: Hanxiao
The "petals" of the wild gerbera are veryslender, usually orange-red in color, and the plant looks ratherdelicate. The fact that we can now see all kinds of flamboyant gerberas in flower shops is all thanks to selection through horticultural techniques.
The slender wild gerbera. Image: Rooivos / wikimedia
Shortly after the gerbera was discovered, Kew Gardens, one of the world's most renowned botanical gardens, began breeding work on the gerbera, and then France and other European countries joined in. Around the 1970s, several countries each bred gerbera varieties suitable for cut flowers and for potted plants. On the road to breeding, the gerbera was not alone; the green-leaf gerbera (G. viridifolia) of the same genus accompanied it all the way.
Cross-breeding has made the gerbera colorful and varied. Today's gerberas includetall-stemmed types suitable for cut flowersandshort-stemmed types suitable for potted plants, as well as single, semi-double and double forms, plus five major color ranges of red, orange, yellow, pink and white, and flower centers in two shades of light and dark. Put all these traits together in permutations and combinations... you can imagine just how rich today's gerbera varieties are.
Various gerberas. Image: David J. Stang & Dinesh Valke & Michael Wolf & Varun Pabrai / wikimedia
As a member of the Asteraceae, the gerbera's flower is actually also aflower head, so the "double" trait is actually classified by the number of ray florets (each "petal" is actually a flower）。
Singlegerberas, like the wild type, have two rings of ray florets at the outermost part of the flower;semi-doublegerberas have some smaller ray florets at the flower center; whiledoublegerberas have 5 to 7 rings of ray florets, or even an entire flower head made up of ray florets. In recent years, gerberas have also been bred with more peculiar "petals," thefeather-petal typeandtwisted-petal type, which are far more refined than the original wild type.
Feather-petal type (left) and twisted-petal type (right) gerberas. Image: wing8.com
Hey, you promised there'd be a fifth great cut flower
By the 1990s, the gerbera had already established its status as a cut flower. In 1993, cut gerberas produced 135 million stems in Japan; in 1995, the Netherlands' gerbera output value approached 100 million US dollars. The gerberaexpanding the title of "four great cut flowers" into "five great"should no longer be controversial.
China was not too late in using the gerbera either. Starting in the 1920s, we introduced many gerbera varieties one after another, and also gave it a Sinicized name -furlang flower. This name was already in use by the 1980s at the latest; I could not find its exact origin, but later merchants used it to open up their imaginations wildly, saying things like it stands for perseverance and fearing no hardship, or that it brings fortune to one's husband. Perhaps this is also related to the gerbera becoming a standard item in opening flower baskets.
"Count to which flower, and will they like me?" Image: Dinesh Valke / wikimedia
In addition, the image of the gerbera also appears in some ACG works; for example, in the game "LoveLive!" there is a card of Kosaka Honoka holding a gerbera.
The orange gerbera matches Honoka's hair color very well. Image: "LoveLive!"
Mobile game players might as well try placing a vase of beautiful gerberas on their desk; perhaps it can suck away the "bad luck" on you.
This article is the 256th article of the 4th year of Species Calendar, from Species Calendar author @Hanxiao.
Although everyone has been actively guessing the theme, so far no one has guessed it right. What a tragedy...
To lower the difficulty of the game, starting today, Calendar Girl will post a clue at the end of each article about the"Species Calendar 2019"theme, as well as aprize quiz。
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clue
Today's keyword
templeBC753
The memory of ancient Rome is sealed in marble; even if only shattered walls and broken ruins remain, the glory of those years can still be recreated. Discover twisted fossil traces in pure white marble? Do not be surprised, that is an even more ancient memory. Marble originates from the calcareous remains of corals, foraminifera or shells; after tens of millions of years congealing into rock, it must then undergo high temperature and pressure and recrystallize a second time before becoming the pure and pristine form it has today.
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Q: In the past four years, what birthday species left the deepest impression on you? Tell (xiàn) us (biān) your story with it in the comments section!
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Asteraceae Sunflower