Brunia Flowers
Name : Brunia Flowers
Latin Name : Genus: Brunia, (Brunia albiflora)
Brunia Description
Brunia is a genus belonging to the Bruniaceae Family. It consists of six species, all of which are endemic to South Africa.
Common English names for this flower include White-Flowered Brunia, Coffee-Scented Brunia, and Coffee Bush; while in Africa it is known as Knopbossie, Fonteinbossie, and Stompies.
Brunia is most likely named after Dr Cornelius Brun, who travelled through Russia and the Levant. Another possibility is that it could be named after Dr Alexander Brown, a ship's surgeon and plant collector who worked in the East Indies around 1690.
Brunia is a tall, slender, single-stemmed but well-branched shrub. It grows to about 2-3 m in height. The long, slender branches are densely leafed, with beautiful dark green foliage that looks like a softer version of a pine tree.
Tiny Brunia flowers are packed into tight spherical knob-like inflorescences that are clustered into flat, rounded heads. The inflorescences are covered by scale-like leaves. Before the white flowers break through, the flowerheads are green touched with black and silver and are also very decorative. Each tiny flower is white in colour with yellow stamens sticking out, giving the inflorescence a yellowish tinge. As the flowers mature, they turn to a creamy yellow.
Flowering time for Brunia is late summer to autumn (February-April). Brunia propagate by seed sown in autumn. Brunia do well in a well-drained, acidic soil. Germination takes about six weeks. Brunia can also be propagated vegetatively by cuttings taken in autumn or spring. Brunia is serotinous, i.e. it stores its seeds and accumulates them annually. These seeds are then released after the parent is killed by fire. Even if the plant is not burnt, the seeds fall to the floor below the parent and some of the seeds germinate on their own.
Brunia albiflora is a beautiful and enigmatic cutflower, and excellent filler. Its long green stems can be cut as foliage, or the suede-like inflorescence can be used in combination to any flower arrangement. Silver Brunia (Brunia laevis) is also very popular as a cutflower as its blue-grey colour makes it a soft contrast to all of the bundles of bright colours around it. It has a long vase life, about two weeks.
Brunia Meaning
The specific species name albiflora means "white-flowered”. The Afrikaans common names strictly refer to the variety Brunia noduliflora, but are commonly used for some of the berzelias and other brunias as well. Knopbossie means “knob-bush”, and refers to the knob-like flowers of Brunias. Fonteinbossie means “spring-bush” referring to a water source because Brunias are often found growing near running water or in the vicinity of a springhead. Stompies means “little stumps”, indicative of the fact that if a fire sweeps through a Brunia population, all that is left are small, blackened stumps.
Brunia Mythology
