The choice for plant of the month for May is impossible. I could list dozens of candidates. My choice this month is as much for the story as the stunning plant. I give you Davidia involucrata In 1899 Ernest Wilson was sent to China with instructions to find and collect a beautiful tree. Travelling via the Arnold arboretum in America and then to Hong Kong Wilson made the last 100miles via house boat and on foot. On arrival he was given a scruffy piece of paper. On it a map drawn to no scale covering an area of 20,000 miles with an X roughly marking a solitary tree of Davidia involucrata. After an arduous trek to the X Wilson discovered a smart new house and a stump of a Davidia! All was not lost he found Actinida (Kiwi fruit) and then deep in the woods he discovered more Davidia thus introducing the magnificent tree to the west.
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