Bergamo Wall Plant - False Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides)

  

Left: False jasmine decorates a door on via Sudorno in Bergamo.
Center: False jasmine on via Osmano in Bergamo.
Right: Jasmine flowers.

This plant is the quintessential Italian outdoor plant (beside ivy). It’s often grown on fences and supports so it’s a stretch to say it’s a wall plant. But it feels right to include it as a wall plant. Around the start of May in Bergamo you start to smell false jasmine everywhere you go. It then fades later seamlessly in the start of June with tiglio (linden), which has a similar scent.

False jasmine is Trachelospermum (syn. Rhyncospermum) jasminoides, a plant in the Apocynaceae (dogbane family) family.

A list of our wall plants we've seen in Bergamo thus far:

• [Apocynaceae] Trachelospermum jasiminoides - False jasmine
• [Caprifoliaceae] Valeriana rubra – Red valerian
• [Papavero] Papaver rhoeas (post) – Common poppy
• [Campanulaceae] Campanula poscharskyana (post) – Serbian Bellflower
• [Plantaginaceae] Antirrhinum majus (post) – Common Snapdragon
• [Crassulaceae[ Sedum palmeri (post)
• [Crassulaceae] Sedum album and Sedum dasyphyllum (post) – White Stonecrop and Corsican Stonecrop
• [Papavero] Fumaria officinalis (post) – Earth Smoke
• [Brassicaceae] Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress and Iberis sempervirens – Evergreen Candytuft (post)
• [Geraniaceae] Geranium robertianum (post) – Stinking Bob
• [Asteraceae] Erigeron karvinskianus (post) – Mexican Fleabane
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ceterach (post) – Rustyback Fern
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ruta-muraria (post) – Wall Rue
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium trichomanes (post) – Maidenhair spleenwort
• [Urticaceae] Parietaria diffusa (post) – Pellitory
• [Plantaginaceae] Cymbalaria muralis (post) – Pennywort

  

Left: False jasmine on via Sudorno in Bergamo
Center: False jasmine flowers.

Right: False jasmine on a wall on V.le V. Emanuele II in Bergamo.

False jasmine on V.le V. Emanuele II in Bergamo.

Bergamo Wall Plant - Valeriana rubra

  

Valeriana rubra in and on walls in Bergamo, Italy. Left via Sudorno. Center via Beltrami.

This is our 15th plant in our list of wall plants seen in Bergamo, Italy. A wall plant is one we've seen growing in and on walls in Bergamo. So what you might say. Well, we are living (1) in a walled city that was a Venetian defensive system built between 1561 and 1588, and now designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 2017. There are over 6 km of mostly uninterrupted (2) wall surrounding the city. Add to that countless walls inside the upper city – as is typical of Italian cities – and you have a lot of surface area for plants.

(1) We technically live just outside the upper (walled) city but spend a lot of time going in and out of the upper city.

 

(2) It took us several years to realize that the part of wall that is missing is where Via Costantino Beltrami (here) leaves the upper city. (The street is name for the Italian explorer who is reported to have discovered the headwaters of the Mississippi River.)

The plant on the wall in this post is Valeriana rubra (syn. Centranthrus ruber), which is part of the Caprifoliaceae (honeysuckle) family. Common names of Valeriana rubra included red valerian, kiss-me-quick, fox's brush, and Jupiter's beard. In Italian it’s referred to as Valeriana rossa. One thing about the Italian language is that many common names of plants echo in some way the scientific name. In English, it’s less the case.

A list of our wall plants we've seen in Bergamo thus far:

• [Caprifoliaceae] Valeriana rubra - Red valerian
• [Papavero] Papaver rhoeas (post) - Common poppy
• [Campanulaceae] Campanula poscharskyana (post) – Serbian Bellflower
• [Plantaginaceae] Antirrhinum majus (post) - Common Snapdragon
• [Crassulaceae[ Sedum palmeri (post)
• [Crassulaceae] Sedum album and Sedum dasyphyllum (post) - White Stonecrop and Corsican Stonecrop
• [Papavero] Fumaria officinalis (post) – Earth Smoke
• [Brassicaceae] Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress and Iberis sempervirens - Evergreen Candytuft (post)
• [Geraniaceae] Geranium robertianum (post) - Stinking Bob
• [Asteraceae] Erigeron karvinskianus (post) - Mexican Fleabane
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ceterach (post) - Rustyback Fern
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ruta-muraria (post) - Wall Rue
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium trichomanes (post) - Maidenhair spleenwort
• [Urticaceae] Parietaria diffusa (post) – Pellitory
• [Plantaginaceae] Cymbalaria muralis (post) - Pennywort

 

Valeriana rubra in and on walls in Bergamo, Italy.

Bergamo Wall Plant – Papaver rhoeas (Poppy)

  

Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) in Bergamo, Italy - growing on walls.

“Walls, huh, yeah
What are they good for?
Growing everything!”

Sung to the tune of “War”, an anthem made famous by Edwin Star in 1970. Poppies (papaveri in Italian) - scientifically known as Papaver rhoeas – are a plant you find often growing in and on walls around Bergamo, Italy. In the last week, we’ve resumed our jogs along Via Torni and Via G. Marieni. We stopped to snap some photos because the poppies were so beautiful, and we needed a break.

The walls along the streets via Torni and via G Marieni – on the “backside” of Città Alta of Bergamo – are a good place to find many of the tag: wall plants we’ve covered in past posts. These streets (really think "country lane") remind us a lot of our time in 2007 – 2008 when we lived in Florence and went for walks in the low hills just south of the city, in Arcetri. In those hills, we would often walk by Villa Galileo - Part of an estate called "Il Gioiello" - where Galileo spent the last part of his life under house arrest.

Other than facile evocation of the "War" song because it popped (no pun intended) into our heads (both Wall and War with one syllable starting with W), poppies do relate thematically in that they have become a symbol of remembrance and honor of those that have died in war.


  

Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) in Bergamo, Italy - growing on walls along Via Torni and Via G. Marieni.

 
Via Marieni (left) and Via Torni (right)  in Bergamo, Italy - a nice country lane for a walk or run.

A list of our wall plants we've seen in Bergamo thus far:

• [Papavero] Papaver rhoeas - Common poppy
• [Campanulaceae] Campanula poscharskyana (post) – Serbian Bellflower
• [Plantaginaceae] Antirrhinum majus (post) - Common Snapdragon
• [Crassulaceae[ Sedum palmeri (post)
• [Crassulaceae] Sedum album and Sedum dasyphyllum (post) - White Stonecrop and Corsican Stonecrop
• [Papavero] Fumaria officinalis (post) – Earth Smoke
• [Brassicaceae] Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress and Iberis sempervirens - Evergreen Candytuft (post)
• [Geraniaceae] Geranium robertianum (post) - Stinking Bob
• [Asteraceae] Erigeron karvinskianus (post) - Mexican Fleabane
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ceterach (post) - Rustyback Fern
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ruta-muraria (post) - Wall Rue
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium trichomanes (post) - Maidenhair spleenwort
• [Urticaceae] Parietaria diffusa (post) – Pellitory
• [Plantaginaceae] Cymbalaria muralis (post) - Pennywort
  

Bergamo Wall Plant – Campanula poscharskyana – Serbian Bellflower

Campanula poscharskyana - Serbian Bellflower on a Bergamo wall.

One hot, late Spring Sunday (or at least hot to us), we are on our way to Trattoria All’Alpino. All’Alpino is our typical let’s go for a walk up and beyond the upper city and have something to eat kind of place. The food is simple and the people wonderful. (And there’s a mini outdoor war museum on the property.)

On our way to All’Alpino, we take the “shortcut” called Via Sotto Mura di Sant’Alessandro. This path (pedestrians and an occasional scooter) is under a section of the Bergamo Unesco Walls, massive Venetian works of defense. The Venetian Walls of Bergamo are over 6 km long and are over 400 years old. At this point of the wall, we are almost at the highest point in the defense system.

On the wall, there is a riot of Campanula poscharskyana growing. Another plant to add to our series: plants that grow on Bergamo walls. 

Campanula poscharskyana is a semi-evergreen trailing perennial that is native to the Dinaric Alps in former Yugoslavia. This fragile looking but tough rockery plant is valued for its lavender-blue star-shaped flowers and is also known as the Serbian bellflower or trailing bellflower.

Campanula poscharskyana - Serbian Bellflower on a Bergamo wall on Via Sotto Mura di Sant'Alessandro.

Bergamo Wall Plant - Antirrhinum majus - Common Snapdragon

Left: Snapdragons grow on a wall along Via San Vigilio, in Bergamo. Right: White snapdragons are less common.

It’s been a while since we lifted our heads and looked at the walls around us. The walls being the Bergamo city walls. It’s not like we exhausted all the possibilities of plants that grow on Bergamo walls. Rather, we’ve changed houses and then had a stream of visitors to see the new house and Bergamo. In other words, no time and that's a pity.

The other day while guiding visitors through standard Travelmarx Deluxe Tour (TM) - a walk up to San Vigilio and lunch at Ristorante Pizzeria San Vigilio - we noticed the walls were alive with snapdragons.

1) Antirrhinum majus or common snapdragon easily lives on the walls of Bergamo. The plants shown in the photos here are from San Vigilio, near the Belvedere. We typically see this pink/fuchsia color but there is also white.

2) The Ristorante Pizzeria San Vigilio never disappoints with guests. We prefer that over the nearby Baretto.



Snapdragons in Bergamo grow readily in the cracks of walls.

Snapdragons grow on a wall along Via San Vigilio in Bergamo, Italy

Bergamo Wall Plant - Sedum palmeri

Left: The flowers of Sedum palmeri with 5 petals and 5 sepals.
Right: Sedum palmeri in a windowsill flower box in Bergamo, Italy.

Sedum palmeri is a plant adorning many windows around Bergamo and other Italian cities. While sometimes found growing on walls around Bergamo, S. palermi is not as common as its cousins Sedum album and Sedum dasyphyllum on walls, instead S. palermi is mostly seen gracing windowsills and planters suggesting intentional planting.

S. palmeri is in the family Crassulaceae native to mountains of Mexico. It forms rounded cushions about 30 cm high and 40 cm wide. Leaves are arranged in rosettes located at the tips of stems. The golden yellow flowers bloom in spring and are abundant and long lasting. In fact, walking around a city like Bergamo, you are likely to notice the bunches of yellow S. palmeri flowers dangling over your head.

This sedum is relatively easy to grow, which leads to its ubiquitous nature. S. palmeri leaves are light green. In winter, the leaves can be tinged with red depending on their exposure to cold. In fact, S. palmeri can support suprisingly low temperatures. According to WorldOfSucculents, it can withstand temperatures as low as 0 °F or -17.4 °C, with a lower hardiness zone of 7a. In short, there is little wonder why this tough plant is such a popular ornamental succulent. From Mexico to Bergamo flower boxes: Sedum palmeri has come a long way baby.

In Italian, it's called Borracina di Palmer, where borraccina is the general name for a related and similar looking (flower-wise) stonecrop (sedum), Sedum acre.

All photos of Sedum palmeri in this post were taken in our palazzo. Our sedum plant (shown in flower close ups) was started from plant bits found on the ground after a storm.

Sedum palmeri was first described by the American botanist Sereno Watson (1826 - 1892). The specific epithet "palmeri" honors the self-taught British botanist and an early American archaeologist Edward Palmer (1829 - 1911). Palmer collected specimens in the southwestern United States, Florida, Mexico (including Baja California), and South America. About 200 species and two genera (Palmerella and Malperia) of plants are named in his honor. The standard author abbreviation Palmer is applied to botanical taxa he described.

A list of our wall plants of Bergamo thus far:

• [Crassulaceae] Sedum album and Sedum dasyphyllum (post) - White Stonecrop and Corsican Stonecrop
• [Papavero] Fumaria officinalis (post) – Earth Smoke
• [Brassicaceae] Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress and Iberis sempervirens - Evergreen Candytuft (post)
• [Geraniaceae] Geranium robertianum (post) - Stinking Bob
• [Asteraceae] Erigeron karvinskianus (post) - Mexican Fleabane
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ceterach (post) - Rustyback Fern
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ruta-muraria (post) - Wall Rue
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium trichomanes (post) - Maidenhair spleenwort
• [Urticaceae] Parietaria diffusa (post) – Pellitory
• [Plantaginaceae] Cymbalaria muralis (post) - Pennywort

Left: A typical planter of Sedum palmeri.
Center: Our Sedum palmeri plant, which usually sits outside this window.
Right: Sedum palmeri flower.

Bergamo Wall Plants - Sedum album and Sedum dasyphyllum

Left: Photo of Sedum dasyphyllum on a wall in Bergamo.
Center: Photo of Sedum dasyphyllum and Sedum album in bloom on a wall in Bergamo.
Right: Nestled in a wall, Madonna della borraccina, the protector of sedum.

Both of these Bergamo Wall Plants ™ plants are part of the genus Sedum, commonly referred to as stonecrop. Stonecrops are in the family Crassulaceae, also known as the stonecrop or orpine family.

Sedum album – White Stonecrop – has alternate, fleshy leaves that are nearly cylindrical with rounded tips. The Italian name for S. album is borraccina bianca. Its flowers are in a corymb structure.

Sedum dasyphyllum - Thick-leaved Stonecrop or Corsican Stonecrop – has opposite gray-green leaves, often tinged pink. This stonecrop's leaves are more plump-looking compared to S. album. The Italian common name for S. dasyphllum is borracina cenerina. Both of these sedums found in hot, dry locations on walls with good sun exposure. Often they are growing next to each other as shown in some of the photos here.

The etymology for these plants as follows. Sedum is from the Latin sedum meaning "houseleek" as least as far as Wikitionary is concerned. Sempervivum tectorum – Common Houseleek – is also in the Crassulaceae family. Another possible etymology we found interesting because of its reflection on the Italian language is given in the Italian Wikipedia page for Sedum album. The entry claims that sedum comes from the the Latin verb to sit, sedeo, "I sit". In Italian it's io mi siedo. The connection is the way the stems lay down or sit. (Sedere – to sit – is one of the verbs in Italian that throws an I in during conjugations: siedo, siedi, siede, sediamo, sedete, siedono.) Who knows for sure what the exact etymology is, but we won't forget the conjugation of this verb.

Continuing: Album is "white". Dasyphyllum – according to dryades.it – comes from the Greek dasýs meaning "hairy" e phýllon meaning leaf. If you look closely, sure enough there are hairs.

A list of our wall plants of Bergamo thus far:

• [Papavero] Fumaria officinalis (post) – Earth Smoke
• [Brassicaceae] Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress and Iberis sempervirens - Evergreen Candytuft (post)
• [Geraniaceae] Geranium robertianum (post) - Stinking Bob
• [Asteraceae] Erigeron karvinskianus (post) - Mexican Fleabane
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ceterach (post) - Rustyback Fern
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium ruta-muraria (post) - Wall Rue
• [Aspleniaceae] Asplenium trichomanes (post) - Maidenhair spleenwort
• [Urticaceae] Parietaria diffusa (post) – Pellitory
• [Plantaginaceae] Cymbalaria muralis (post) - Pennywort

Left: A wall on Via Fontana in Bergamo where many of the photos of sedum were taken.
Center and right: Sedum album on a wall.

Left: Sedum album and Sedum dasyphyllum.
Center and right: Sedum dasyphyllum.

Sedum album and Sedum dasyphyllum growing together on a wall in Bergamo.

Left: Sedum dasyphyllum in winter.
Right: Sedum daspyphyllum in spring with flowers.

Bergamo Wall Plant – Common Fumitory or Earth Smoke

Left and center: Earth Smoke on a wall in Bergamo.
Right: Botanical illustration of Fumaria officinalis.

Today's Bergamo Wall Plant ™ is Fumaria officinalis – a plant in the Poppy family (Papaveraceae). It has a few common names like the somewhat boring "Common Fumitory" as well the provocative, "Earth Smoke", which sounds like a name you might choose if you had to choose a spirit name.  According to Wikipedia, "smoke" because of "the translucent color of its flowers, giving them the appearance of smoke or of hanging in smoke, and the slightly gray-blue haze color of its foliage, also resembling smoke coming from the ground, especially after morning dew."

Continuing with the etymology, this from The Names of Plants on the origin of the genus name Fumaria:

fumaria – smoke, fumus, Dioscorides' name, καπνος, referred to the effect of the juice on the eyes being the same as that of smoke, but the medieval Latin name, fumus terrae, refers to the appearance of the Fumitory plants as smoke arising from the ground.

Earth smoke is a source of fumaric acid, an organic compound that has a ton of interesting uses as discussed here, including interesting research on reducing methane gas produced in the first stomach of ruminants, a significant contributor to climate change.

F. officinalis is definitely a sun lover. It normally flowers appear between April and October, and we can maybe explain it's early blooming time here due to its location in a sunny spot on Via G. Marieni In Bergamo. Borrowing from our previous post, Bergamo – A Running Meditation,  this road honors General Giovanni Marieni (1858 – 1933), an important figure in the modernization of the Italian air force in World War I. The lane wraps around his ancestral family property sitting at the end of a small ridge, which happens to be on our normal running route.

Left and center: Earth Smoke on a wall on Via Marieni in Bergamo.
Right: View of Via Marieni.

A list of our wall plants of Bergamo thus far:

•  Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress and Iberis sempervirens - Evergreen Candytuft (post)

• Geranium robertianum (post) - Stinking Bob

• Erigeron karvinskianus (post) - Mexican Fleabane

• Asplenium ceterach (post) - Rustyback Fern

• Asplenium ruta-muraria (post) - Wall Rue

• Asplenium trichomanes (post) - Maidenhair spleenwort

• Parietaria diffusa (post) – Pellitory

• Cymbalaria muralis (post) - Pennywort