Parts Of A Fuchsia
Looking at the diagram above should help to identify the various parts of the fuchsia. All fuchsia flowers, whether single, semi double or double, consist of these basic components.
History Of The Fuchsia
Fuchsias originated from South America, growing wild there and in New Zealand. The first record of a fuchsia was published in 1703 by Father Charles Plumier, a Catholic missionary in Santo Domingo. He named the plant Fuchsia triphylla flore coccinea after his colleague, Leonhart Fuchs.
However, fuchsias were not imported into Britain until around 1789, as was recorded in the Botanical Magazine of that same year. Within a few years, several other fuchsia species were introduced to England, and these were crossed to produce the ancestors of the fuchsias we know and love today. This process of crossing varieties continued throughout the 1800's, with the hybridising of fuchsias reaching the height of popularity in late Victorian times. Two prominent figures who grew fuchsias in this era were James Lye and George Bright. Fuchsia popularity after Victorian times declined. It declined even further as a result of the first World War, when there was a greater interest in vegetable growing. The growing of fuchsias and other decorative plants suffered as a result. In the 1930s, the Americans set to work on fuchsias and this resulted in larger flowers in a larger range of plants.
It wasn't until the mid 1950's that the fuchsia regained popularity in the UK, but this second wave of popularity has remained through to the present day. Many of the original Fuchsia varieties are still popular today.
Fuchsias are one genus of the botanical family Onagraceae, and they are therefore related to other members of the genus such as Godetia and Evening Primrose.
Within the fuchsia genus there are over one hundred separate species.
Within these various species of fuchsia there are many cultivars and varieties. A 'variety' is a naturally occurring plant which is different from others within a species (e.g. Fuchsia regia var. ampliata). A 'cultivar' is the same, although the plant has been 'man made'. The majority of commercially available fuchsia today are cultivars such as 'Display' and 'Riccartonii'.
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