Smyrnium perfoliatum

Scientific classification

Kingdom:    Plantae

Clade:         Tracheophytes

Clade:         Angiosperms

Clade:         Eudicots

Clade:         Asterids

Order:         Apiales

Family:        Apiaceae

Subfamily:   Apioideae

Tribe:          Smyrnieae

Genus:        Smyrnium
Wikipedia

This plant that happily grows in our garden in deep shade can only be purchased in this Lower Mainland nursery. It is a biennial which means that it sometimes disappears or does not flower. When it does, it seeds itself and most of the time it returns. It never encroaches on other plants. It is an ideal companion to hostas and kirengeshomas.

Smyrnium is the kind of plant that you might not notice the first time (or second) around. My friend Alleyne Cook who died last year would have called it “a good garden plant”. Cook was from New Zealand and spoke mostly in understatements like that one. 

Thanks to me looking around in mid-April, when the roses are yet to bud out, it was impossible for me to not notice this lovely but understated plant. Scanning it reveals all its beauty.

I am so glad that my Rosemary is a plant snob. I might not have noticed it when we first saw it at Free Spirit.