This plant came to us originally as the type collection of Tetradenia hardyi, an unpublished name for what appears to be fairly typical T. fruticosa. This northern Madagascan species belonging to the mint family (Lamiaceae) has rugose, lanceolate leaves (said to reach to reach 6 cm long, though up to 10 cm in ours) borne on pencil-thick stems. The numerous small flowers are dioecious carried on paniculate inflorescences and can be white to mauve. In ours they are male, white with purple anthers and have a delightful sweet fragrance reminiscent of the so-called California lilac (Ceanothus in the Rhamnaceae) We offer rooted cuts of HBG 58577, received from Michael Vassar in 1986 and originally from David Hardy at the Botanical Research Institute in Pretoria, S. Africa. It was said to be the type collection made by Hardy of what was to be described in his honor, but it never made it to print so unfortunately we have no more data to report than that is was collected in Madagascar. $10.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 89 (3), May-June, 2017