Woodrose Naked on the Verge. Merremia hirta, KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
A nomen nudum - a Naked Name - that's what 'Merremia' was in 1818. The German medical pharmacist and botanist August Wilhelm Dennstedt (1776-1826) used that name for the first time in his key to Rheede van Draakenstein's flora of the Malabar Coast (India) for what Linnaeus had called Convolvulus reptans. But Dennstedt didn't give a description, and hence botanists use the term 'nomen nudum' for such a descriptionless name. But Dennstedt's designation was 'validated' in 1841 by the Austrian theologian, botanist, numismatist and Sinologist Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher (1804-1849). Why both botanists named this Yellow Woodrose for Blasius Merrem (1761-1824), I don't know. It's a bit odd given the fact that Merrem was well-known as an ornithologist - developing his own systematics to classify birds - but not as a botanist.
The verges of the KLCC Park are a treasure trove for anyone who loves weeds (see my previous photo). Our Merremia hirta is found there in close proximity with Tridax procumbens, Richardia scabra, Torenia polygonoides, Cleome rutidosperma... But midway a hot, sunny morning you'll be hard put to find this pretty Yellow. It'll have shrivelled up, but its vine will happily produce more the next morning... that is, if the lawnmowers haven't gotten to it yet.
Woodrose Naked on the Verge. Merremia hirta, KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
A nomen nudum - a Naked Name - that's what 'Merremia' was in 1818. The German medical pharmacist and botanist August Wilhelm Dennstedt (1776-1826) used that name for the first time in his key to Rheede van Draakenstein's flora of the Malabar Coast (India) for what Linnaeus had called Convolvulus reptans. But Dennstedt didn't give a description, and hence botanists use the term 'nomen nudum' for such a descriptionless name. But Dennstedt's designation was 'validated' in 1841 by the Austrian theologian, botanist, numismatist and Sinologist Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher (1804-1849). Why both botanists named this Yellow Woodrose for Blasius Merrem (1761-1824), I don't know. It's a bit odd given the fact that Merrem was well-known as an ornithologist - developing his own systematics to classify birds - but not as a botanist.
The verges of the KLCC Park are a treasure trove for anyone who loves weeds (see my previous photo). Our Merremia hirta is found there in close proximity with Tridax procumbens, Richardia scabra, Torenia polygonoides, Cleome rutidosperma... But midway a hot, sunny morning you'll be hard put to find this pretty Yellow. It'll have shrivelled up, but its vine will happily produce more the next morning... that is, if the lawnmowers haven't gotten to it yet.