A plant called 'Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow'
The family Solanaceae, the so-called nightshade family, contains many very familiar edible plants which include the chili pepper (Capsicum annuum), eggplant (Solanum melongena), the potato (S. tuberosum), and tomato (S. lycopersicum); the economically important tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum, and N. rustica) also belongs to this family. Well known horticulturally important representatives include the nipple plant (S. mammosum), and Petunia. Few genera contain fragrant flowers, and these include the angel's trumpet (Brugmansia ssp.), and the plant we are featuring here, Brunfelsia pauciflora*.
Brunfelsia is a genus native to the neotropics and was established by Swedish botanist Carl von Linné, in honor of German botanist Otto Brunfels, German botanist and theologian who, together with Linné, helped develop botany in accordance to the rigors of scientific inquiry. Plants in this genus have a few species in cultivation, and are popular due to their fragrant flowers. Brunfelsia pauciflora, endemic to Brazil, are popular due to the flowers that undergo chromatic changes as they age. These open a rich violet, then lighten to lilac the following day, then completely fade to white on the third (or fourth) day. Sometimes though, flowers can jump straight to the white phase on the second day and this often happens during the dry period where daytime temperatures can get stratospherically high. Nevertheless, as the flowers do not all open at once, an entire plant can be ornamented with blooms of three colors. Upon the start of anthesis, a flower is like this:
Then on the second day, the colors fade a bit. Compare the newly opened flowers on the lower part of the photo, partly hidden at the rear:
An example of a flower on its second day:
Then on the third day, the same flowers have already turned almost white, contrasting with those that opened later:
Here you can see the reason why the plant is known colloquially as 'Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow'.
On the fourth day of anthesis, the flowers have turned completely white. So that's four days in total. Maybe we can refer to these plants as 'Two days ago, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow' instead?
My plant came as a gift from the early 2000s from a long-time horticulturist and businessman. I had the plant planted directly to the ground but when I decided to move I just took a stem cutting which promptly rooted thereafter. Since then it has lived its entire life in a pot, although I am already considering moving it to my backyard in the not too distant future. Within my area, I have seen two large shrubs of this same species looking absolutely gorgeous when in full bloom.
If you have this plant, you'll see that it can flower almost the whole year through, but here's a tip if you want your plant to bloom as if there's no tomorrow: leave them dry long enough for the leaves to droop for a couple of days, but not too long to induce the plant to drop its leaves. Then water copiously. Expect buds forming in a few days, usually in under a week. Just make sure not to overdo this because flowering takes a great deal of energy and eventually, your plant will cease responding to your cruel trickery due to exhaustion. But you can use the knowledge if you are expecting visitors soon and would like to impress them with some natural scents from a bush with multi-colored flowers.
*The species name pauciflora literally means 'few-flowered'. Looking at these plants, one may wonder about the sanity of George Bentham, the author who named and described this species, in 1846. There are a few species from the genus with more flowers per cyme though, so the chosen name isn't that ridiculous.
Brunfelsia is a genus native to the neotropics and was established by Swedish botanist Carl von Linné, in honor of German botanist Otto Brunfels, German botanist and theologian who, together with Linné, helped develop botany in accordance to the rigors of scientific inquiry. Plants in this genus have a few species in cultivation, and are popular due to their fragrant flowers. Brunfelsia pauciflora, endemic to Brazil, are popular due to the flowers that undergo chromatic changes as they age. These open a rich violet, then lighten to lilac the following day, then completely fade to white on the third (or fourth) day. Sometimes though, flowers can jump straight to the white phase on the second day and this often happens during the dry period where daytime temperatures can get stratospherically high. Nevertheless, as the flowers do not all open at once, an entire plant can be ornamented with blooms of three colors. Upon the start of anthesis, a flower is like this:
Then on the second day, the colors fade a bit. Compare the newly opened flowers on the lower part of the photo, partly hidden at the rear:
An example of a flower on its second day:
Then on the third day, the same flowers have already turned almost white, contrasting with those that opened later:
Here you can see the reason why the plant is known colloquially as 'Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow'.
On the fourth day of anthesis, the flowers have turned completely white. So that's four days in total. Maybe we can refer to these plants as 'Two days ago, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow' instead?
My plant came as a gift from the early 2000s from a long-time horticulturist and businessman. I had the plant planted directly to the ground but when I decided to move I just took a stem cutting which promptly rooted thereafter. Since then it has lived its entire life in a pot, although I am already considering moving it to my backyard in the not too distant future. Within my area, I have seen two large shrubs of this same species looking absolutely gorgeous when in full bloom.
If you have this plant, you'll see that it can flower almost the whole year through, but here's a tip if you want your plant to bloom as if there's no tomorrow: leave them dry long enough for the leaves to droop for a couple of days, but not too long to induce the plant to drop its leaves. Then water copiously. Expect buds forming in a few days, usually in under a week. Just make sure not to overdo this because flowering takes a great deal of energy and eventually, your plant will cease responding to your cruel trickery due to exhaustion. But you can use the knowledge if you are expecting visitors soon and would like to impress them with some natural scents from a bush with multi-colored flowers.
*The species name pauciflora literally means 'few-flowered'. Looking at these plants, one may wonder about the sanity of George Bentham, the author who named and described this species, in 1846. There are a few species from the genus with more flowers per cyme though, so the chosen name isn't that ridiculous.
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