M. ×hybrida 'Lunanhead'
M. grandis subsp. grandis × M. simplicifolia.
Hybridised by: L. Drummond, pre-2004. Raised by: L. Drummond.
Named by: E. Stevens, 2015. Registered by: E. Stevens, 2015.
Flowering: mid-May to mid-June. Sky-blue flowers held on extremely long pedicels arising from the false whorl. Sometimes only a single flower forms but on occasion there may be between 2 and 4 per stem. The lateral facing flowers are almost flat faced with a long style and prominent narrow stigma. The oval petals are non-overlapping.
Emerging foliage: The emerging leaves are pale green and have a slight pale red-purple pigmentation on their under surface.
Mature foliage: Elliptic leaves with long petioles. The leaf margins are shallowly serrated, the base shortly attenuate and the apex sub-acute.
Fruit capsule: Narrowly ellipsoid, sparsely covered with reflexed bristles and with a prominent narrow style and stigma.
Etymology: Originally Leslie Drummond nicknamed the plants he raised from his cross recreating M. × hybrida as “Simpligrand” but the cultivar has now been named ‘Lunanhead’ after the name of the village in which he gardened.