Do you know that the University of Exeter has an accredited National Collection of Azara?
Azara is a genus of trees and shrubs which are partially or fully evergreen with fragrant scented flowers and are native to South America.
Azara is not a plant genus that many gardeners know that much about, but we have been growing them at the University of Exeter on our Streatham and St Luke’s Campuses since the 1970s.
Our first official records are from 1983; the plants came from gardens that included the University of Cambridge Botanic Garden, the National Botanic Garden of Ireland in Glasnevin and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Azara is a genus of 11 species in the Salicaceae family native to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Juan Fernández Island and Uruguay in temperate to subtropical regions. They are most often found growing in woodland margins and lakesides.
Our collection is one of two accredited National Collections and consists of seven different species and two cultivars of evergreen shrubs or small trees. Possibly the best known is Azara microphylla, the hardiest of the species, which flowers in March and has a strong vanilla scent that can permeate a garden.
Azara have alternate pinnately veined glossy leaves that may have entire or serrated margins. The flowers are small, yellow or green/yellow, protogynous, sometimes fragrant and collected in racemes or corymbs. Because of their size, they are best viewed from underneath the branch if grown as a tree. They don’t have petals but instead have an indefinite number of stamens surrounding a simple style. The fruit is a berry.
We use a database called IrisBG in the Grounds team to help us with surveying the plant collections we grow. The process of surveying the plants including the Azaras gives us an opportunity formally to check the plants in the grounds against historic checklists and planting records.
Martin Gardner, a research associate at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, who specialises in the conservation of Chilean plants, has kindly checked the names and identification of our plants. This is an important part of holding a National Plant Collection – checking the identification and naming of our plants. An example is an Azara we had labelled as A. paraguayensis, which is incorrect. They are in fact most likely A. serrata and so have been changed.
The Azara National Collection
- A. dentata: hardy in coastal and relatively mild areas except in hard winters, fragrant flowers late spring/early summer.
- A. integrifolia: scented flowers January to March, can grow to 10ft.
- A. integrifolia ‘Variegata’: grows well on a warm wall or sunny sheltered site, fragrant flowers in late winter/early spring followed by white berries.
- A. lanceolata: fragrant, flowers April and May, needs shelter from cold winds.
- A. microphylla: makes a good wall shrub, best in a sheltered site in full sun or partial shade.
- A. microphylla ‘Variegata’: makes a good wall shrub.
- A. petiolaris: highly scented small yellow flowers in spring.
- A. serrata: scented dark yellow flowers in mid summer on old shoots, glossy leaves.
- A. uruguayensis: has yellow small flowers in drooping spikes in early spring.
