Human Flower Project

Monday, January 15, 2007

The Great Vine of England: All the Makings of a Marquee Plant

The Great Vine grows on beneath a glass roof (2002)
Photo: James Wandersee and Renee Clary

James Wandersee and Renee Clary again let us share in the fruits of their continuing research into plants and human consciousness. Their fairy tale story of Gillian Cox’s Human Flower Project is a wonder of gardening “monogamy,” and the EarthScholars’ concept of marquee plants should benefit botanical gardens and arboretums across the world.

Bushels of thanks to you, Jim and Renee!

By James H. Wandersee
    Louisiana State University
  Renee M. Clary
    Mississippi State University
EarthScholars™ Research Group

Getting a person’s attention isn’t easy these days. Our work has previously shown that the general public, especially in first-world nations and in large cities, often exhibits what we have termed plant blindness — the failure of people consciously to notice and value the plants around them. “By 2007, the world’s urban population is expected to exceed the number of people living in rural areas for the first time in history,” according to the UN Chronicle (Fall 2000).  Plant blindness is indeed on the increase, in spite of the fact that “all life depends on plants.”

Image: Theatre West Van

Marquee is the name given to the large sign overhanging a theater entrance announcing the current attraction, a name surrounded by bright, flashing lights.  At the 2001 annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America, a report by our research group defined a marquee plant as: 1. A plant species that strongly attracts the public’s attention and invites its direct observation; 2. a plant species that, during some or all of its life cycle, is capable of drawing a crowd at a botanic garden; 3. a plant species that may serve as a portal to public understanding of plants.

At that time we had documented and studied the visual characteristics of six such “superstar” plants: Agave americana (century plant),  Amorphophallus titanum (titan arum), Araucaria araucana (monkey puzzle tree), Musa sapientum (grocer’s banana),  Lithops lithops (living stones), and Victoria amazonica (giant Amazon water lily). These plants are on location at five famous European botanic gardens in five countries. At these same botanic gardens, we also discovered several underpublicized and underinterpreted species with the potential to become “marquee plants.” If these plants could be reconceptualized, visitors would come to see the “star quality” in each of them, as well.

We found that the public is especially interested in plants and plant organs (roots, stems, leaves, flowers) that represent maxima or minima within the Plant Kingdom—for example, oldest, rarest, rarely blooming, largest, tallest, deepest, smallest, seldom seen, most massive, most odiferous, most valuable, most ancient, and most dangerous. We called these our limiting cases criteria for marquee plants.

Inconspicuous grape florets
Photo: Bruce Reisch

To an even greater degree than the plants previously mentioned, we think The Great Vine of England epitomizes a marquee plant. Admittedly, grapes are produced from inconspicuous florets—tiny flowers that form part of larger flower clusters (Wind pollinated, the Great Vine always flowers in May). But despite its modest flower show, if you are a plant aficionado you will probably want to travel to see what may be the oldest and largest living grapevine in the world.* Its trunk currently has an 80-inch girth, and its longest vine extends more than 120 feet!  The vines are carefully suspended beneath the roof of a large glasshouse.

Located at Hampton Court Palace  in Surrey, England, an easy 12-mile train ride from central London, The Great Vine is one of the most visited plants in the world. Across the centuries, millions of people have made a pilgrimage to see it, originally paying the handsome sum of one penny per view.

Rootfield of the Great Vine
Photo: James Wandersee and Renee Clary

Planted at the palace as a cutting in 1768 by the famous landscape gardener Lancelot “Capability” Brown, the cutting was taken from the Black Hamburgh vine, which no longer survives but once grew at Valentine’s Park in Essex, England. At Hampton Court Palace, the plant has been grown in a series of ever-expanding glasshouses. The Great Vine was first shown to the public in the 1840s when Queen Victoria opened the palace gardens to the public. It currently resides in its latest (1969) glasshouse, its root system extending well beyond it outdoors.

Harvesting grapes from The Great Vine
Photo: Europe for Visitors

Surprisingly, even though it is 239 years old, this plant is still growing and bearing fruit. At harvest time (typically spanning 3 weeks in September), one can even purchase and taste the fruits of this venerable Black Hamburgh table grape. At present, it produces 500-700 lbs. of sweet dessert grapes each year. These are sold to the public in 600 tiny baskets at the palace each fall. Viticulturists recommend that it be prevented from over-bearing to avoid stress that might cause its demise, so it is hand-pruned to limit production. In 1807, its most productive year, it yielded 2,200 bunches of grapes, weighing on an average one pound each. That’s about one ton of sweet black table grapes!

This brings us to the most fascinating part of the story. This famous plant has been tended by just one cheerful person for the past 24 years. Its health, vitality, and grape production are solely Gillian Cox’s responsibility. She has had extensive horticultural training and lives at the palace near her single charge. She also gives regularly scheduled talks at the palace about the plant . Her official title is the Keeper of The Great Vine.

Gillian Cox, Keeper of the Great Vine (2002)
Photo: James Wandersee and Renee Clary

As vine keeper at Hampton Court Palace I’m lucky to have a job which I enjoy and to live ‘on site’ too.  The Great Vine, situated in the grounds of the Palace, is well over two hundred years old and you can imagine looking after it is quite a responsibility. Obviously no one would like to be remembered as the person who killed The Great Vine….I could be ‘off to the Tower!’
                    —Gillian Cox  

Carefully chosen and well-publicized plants featured at public gardens and arboreta —“marquee plants”—can galvanize the public’s attention and serve as portals to increased awareness and interest, promoting a well-integrated understanding of the Plant Kingdom’s role in human affairs.  Optimized visitor viewing standpoints, interpretation, display, marketing, environmental salience, and economic importance, we found, were key factors for success.

What makes The Great Vine an exemplary marquee plant? It is remarkable for its age, size, and care, for its dedicated keeper, for the length of time it has been accessible to the public, its total number of visitors, its proximity to Europe’s largest city, its links to important historical figures, and its fruit-bearing span.  It certainly is “a plant that draws a crowd.”

If you enjoy seeing plants, we think The Great Vine should definitely appear on your life list!

*Authors’ Note: Is The Great Vine the world’s oldest living grapevine? Perhaps not. The city of Maribor in Slovenia claims to have evidence supporting a 400-year age determination for its Vine of Maribor.