Lagunaria patersonia (Andrews) G.Don

Coordinates: 37°44’38” N; 25°39’55” W
Altitude: 33 m

Morphometry:
Height (2023): 21.40 m
Diameter at breast height (2024): 64.30 cm

Phenology (2024):
Vegetative phase: III
Flowering: IV, V, VI VI                                                                                [4]

The discovery and introduction of Lagunaria patersonia in Europe is due to the explorer and Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales, Colonel William Paterson, who collected seeds of this species on Norfolk Island between 1791 and 1792, and in 1792, it came into the hands of the English naturalist Joseph Banks, later (1797) officially in charge of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London. [1,5,6]

This species was first described by Henry Charles Andrews in 1803 as a species of the genus Hibiscus (H. patersonius), a genus created by Linnaeus in 1753. This same species was also described in 1804 by John Sims, who without referring to Andrews’ publication, described it as a species of the genus Laguna (L. patersonia), a genus created in 1786 by Antonio José Cavanilles. Later, in 1831, George Don, citing Andrews and Sims, transferred the species to the genus Lagunaria (created in 1828 by H.G. Reichenbach) but wrongly gave it the specific restrictive patersonii. According to the international rules of nomenclature for plants, the older specific restrictive should have been chosen: patersonius, but as the genus Lagunaria is feminine, the feminine declension should be applied to the name, making it patersonia. Although George Don’s name Lagunaria patersonii could be treated as a superfluous and illegitimate name, the name patersonii published by G. Don was corrected by taxonomists to Lagunaria patersonia, [4] and is currently the accepted name. [8]