Alyssum obovatum Alyssum tortuosum ???????????

[Maggi Young]

Hello, Friends, this query in from a Member..... can you help??


"Hi
I hope someone can throw some light on this.
 
Alyssum obovatum
Alyssum tortuosum
 
The obovatum is said to be native to Alaska and parts of northern Canada. It is not listed in the RHS dictionary or the Plant Finder. it is commonly called American madwort
It is also said that it is a variety of tortuosum as Alyssum tortuosum var obovatum. It is listed as such in the Flora of the USSR.
The Flora of the Altai lists it as a species in its own right
 
A tortuosum is listed in the RHS Dictionary and said to be from SE Europe. However in the Flora of China it is also said to be native to Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan; SW Asia, Europe.
 
Personal experiences of a grower in England of the plant acquired as obovatum is that it does not like the wet and dies out, but always self seeds. It can be kept in a tunnel.
That of a grower in Germany using seed collected as obovatum by that grower in the Altai Mountains finds a plant with a tap root and that it self seeds and has been doing so since 2000.
 
Any information would be most gratefully received.
R. O. "

[Carlo]

So what's the question?

[Maggi Young]

Good point, Carlo!! I assume he wants to know more about the differences between the two plants, if any, and whether one is merely a subspecies...... and their cultivation requirements.......

[ro]

The questions are:

Are there two separate plants Alyssum obovatum and Alyssum tortuosum?
How do they differ?
What is their correct nomenclature and what places do they come from?
Have others grown either or both of these?
What have they noticed?
Many thanks
 

[Maggi Young]

Hello, "ro".... Welcome to the Forum, Richard.... now I hope you can get exactly the info you are seeking from the far flung forumists! 

[Lesley Cox]

I had tortuosum at one time, in a hot trough. A rather straggly - but stiff - plant with mustard yellow flowers. Quite nice but when it eventually died, I wasn't too bothered. It never set seed. Sorry, that's not much help, is it?

[cohan]

i was curious to see whether it appeared in flora of the canadian arctic archipelago, but they list no alyssums,
http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/_ca/
 and i didnt find it under any other genera/synonyms in a quick google search
although usda plant database shows it in northern canada and alaska
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALOB5
of course this does nothing to clear up its relation to tortuosum, sorry

edit: btw, the synonym for obovatum that does keep turning up is A americanum
and this site lists a subspeces baikalicum (sp?)
http://arctos.database.museum/name/Alyssum%20obovatum

[Sinchets]

Flora of China has this to say:
Alyssum tortuosum syn. Alyssum alpestre var. tortuosum...

... Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan; SW Asia, Europe].
The above description is based on non-Chinese material. The Xinjiang plants examined by the present authors are tentatively assigned to this species.

and

Alyssum obovatum syns Odontarrhena obovata,  Alyssum americanum, A. biovulatum, A. fallax....

... Mountain slopes, cliffs, gravel, rocky places; 500-1500 m. Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia; North America (Alaska, Canada)].

The records in FRPS and Fl. Intramongol. (ed. 2, 2: 646. 1990) of Alyssum sibiricum Willdenow, as occurring in Nei Mongol and Heilongjiang, are based on misidentified plants of A. obovatum. True Alyssum sibiricum is restricted to the Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, Crimea, and the Caucasus. Although the present authors have seen no material of A. obovatum from Xinjiang, the species is likely to be gathered from Altay Shan, where it has been extensively collected from the Russian and Mongolian parts of this range. The records herein of A. obovatum from Heilongjiang and Nei Mongol are based on Litvinov 147 (LE) and Wang Zhan 507 (PE), respectively.
Given the taxonomy of the European Alyssum and their near relatives it is possible that the taxonomy and relations within the whole group have not yet been adequately determined.
Certainly if both species are the same in Europe and China or China and North america, one would imagine that plants can be found from places within these ranges which would make better garden plants in various parts of the world.