PHILADELPHUS

PHILADELPHUS, MOCK ORANGE

LATIN NAME: PITTOSPORUM TOBIRA NANUM

HOMELAND: CHINA / JAPAN

This plant is known as "tobirano ki", which means door tree in its native country Japan and it’s one of the important figures of the "Setsubun" festival, which heralds the beginning of spring in Japan. It is believed that the scent emitted by the leaves hung on the doors and patio posts of houses in bunches the day before Setsubun, drives away evil spirits.

Austrian ambassador Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, who served in Istanbul between 1554 and 1556, in thereign of Suleiman the Magnificent, saw the plant at the Sublime Gate of Topkapı Palace and took with him on his way back to his country with the name Phliadelphus and spreaded to Europe under the name Philadelphus.

In the years when philadelphus spread in Europe ,the name was related to the Ptolomeic Kingdom of Egypt ad its King Ptolemy II Philadelphus who ruled in 284-246 BC. It is known that Philadelphus II was the son of Ptolomeus I, who was a general of Alexander the Great, and that philadelphus was brought to Alexandria by Ptolomeus I, who participated in Alexander the Great's AsianExpedition, and from there to Istanbul during the Byzantine period.

The written mention of philadelphus was recorded as "Blew Pipe", in the 1484-page book "Generall Historie of Plantes", published in 1597 by the English herbalist John Gerard.

In America, it is known as "mockorange",due to the similarity of its flowers to orange flowers blooming in may and June.

The name mockorange is actually based on a ghost story told at Prestwould Gardens in Clarksville, Virginia, USA.

In ghost stories about Lady Skipwith, the lady of Wythe House Manor in Prestwould Gardens, who died dramatically in the 18th century, philadelphus is mentioned as "mockorange" among Lady Skipwith's favorite plants.

It is known that Thomas Jefferson, one of the former presidents of America, especially wanted mockorange in his garden, and George Washington in the garden of the White House, and even instructed the White House gardeners on how to prune.