The naturalist priest Jean Pierre Armand David Halsouet (1826-1900), a native of Ezpeleta, will be one of the most distinguished Basque scientists in the world. The same year of his death he wrote in the weekly Manex Hiriart-Urrutik Eskualduna that he was “one of the great sages who have left the town of Eskual.” And we didn't know about him. Even for our laziness, it appears almost always as a French scientist.

The elegant Mukizapi tree bears its name, Davidia practiata. But it's not the only one.

Lately, at a time when there is a desire to extend agitation with invasive plants, one of the so-called enemies of the plants of our “our” ecosystems reminds us of it: Buddleja davidii. The name of the genus Buddleja was named after the botanical priest Adam Buddle (1660-1715), of Farmbridge, in Essex. What has this cural plant said?

Armand David found him in China in 1869 and wrote his description. However, it took several years for the plant to be brought to Europe. It was first mentioned on our continent in 1890. And Jean André Soulié began to propagate some seeds sent by another abbot in 1895 to the owner of the hills of Vilmorin. Beginning in 1915, they proliferated. Until the end of the last century it is called an “invader.” United States And in many parts of Europe, you haven't seen it, and it's a public war and it's subsidised against it. In ours, for example. It easily settles into plantations and fallow and spreads quickly. No wonder, each plant provides an average of three million seeds a year.

Its name in Chinese means “plant that drains fish.” Its smell indicates the value it has for intoxicating anyone in a relatively close environment. Some, however, lose their heads to taste in that too sweet smell: butterflies. It's called a butterfly tree. When it's in bloom, you can see the butterfly and the insect dancing around it. Nice summer solstice pilgrimage.