Phylica arborea

The Phylica bush is a rare shrubby plant in its native island of Amsterdam, belonging to the extreme territories of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. A compact bush, accustomed to the slap of sea winds, it covers its stems with small tightly packed leaves, silver-green in color, draped in bristles to protect itself from the bite of salt, a voluptuous mantle that makes it infinitely soft to the eye and touch. It offers a timid flowering in spring, at the end of branches, made up of tiny flowers hidden under creamy white bracts that emit a sweet honey scent in calm weather. Almost a ghost, this endearing plant may find refuge in your garden if you are fortunate enough to have one along the Atlantic coast of our country. The cool and humid climate, mild in winter, and the often acidic soils in these regions are indeed highly preferred by it.

The Phylica bush belongs to the Rhamnaceae family, just like the Ceanothus and the jujube tree. It is the only endemic tree plant of Amsterdam Island, located far offshore and south of the coasts of South Africa, in the Indian Ocean. To approach as closely as possible the growing conditions that suit it, it is useful to examine those it encounters in its natural environment. These lost islands, also known as the Desolation Islands, experience a subtropical climate dominated by significant humidity and mild temperatures all year round, with small temperature variations between winter and summer. The soils that accommodate the Phylica bush are peaty, acidic, humus-rich, cool, and deep, or alternatively rocky.

In its natural environment, the Phylica bush slowly forms a small tree, 3m (10ft) tall and 2m (7ft) wide, with a somewhat twisted silhouette that sometimes resembles that of an olive tree, especially as the trunk gradually becomes bare from its base, leaving only the crown green and leafy. In cultivation, in our climates, it will not exceed 1.50m (5ft) in height and m (3ft) in width, and will display a bushy, dense, and rather upright habit. Stems, leaves, and floral bracts are covered in fine silver hairs that conceal the light brown color of the bark and the dark green of the leaves. The flexible branches bear small, densely arranged, overlapping evergreen leaves on their bark. They are entire, narrow, very silky, and pointed at their tips. Flowering occurs in May, at the end of each branch. The inflorescences are composed of tiny yellow flowers enveloped in cream-coloured bracts. They have a pleasant fragrance and attract pollinating insects. After pollination, they give rise to the formation of fruits, which are small capsules called elaiosomes, containing smooth spherical seeds dispersed by albatrosses in their original territory.

The Phylica bush is a marvel of nature. It is one of those plants in peril in its habitat, like Cupressus dupreziana, or the Tassili Cypress. For this reason, but also for its unique beauty, curious gardeners may want to adopt it among acidic soil bushes: tree heathers, pieris, Clethra barbinervis, Leucothoe, and many plants from Oceania such as Grevillea, Leptospermum, Lagunaria patersonii, Melaleuca, and Sollya heterophylla, for example.