Meconopsis horridula alba ?

[ranunculus]

Welcome to this wonderful forum Basant,
Please feel free to post more images of your exciting trek.

[Paul E.]

I've just been reading an article written in 1915 by David Prain (who also like myself took up botany at the University of Aberdeen ), entitled "Some additional species of Meconopsis". I straight away thought of this post about white M. horridula, because in the article Prain describes a new species of white flowered thorny Meconopsis, which he called M. decora, from the east Himalayas:

"This seed is said to have come from the Abor Country, and Mr. Hay on raising plants had supposed them to belong to M. aculeata; when flowers appeared he took the form to be a white-flowered variety of that species. It is, however, in reality so distinct that it is advisable to treat it as the type of a separate group."

There's not a great difference between all the species of the horridula aggregate (and many in cultivation are mis-named), so yeah, the plant we're looking it could also just be a white variety of any of them.

As for the fate of Meconopsis decora, its species level classification was whisked away by Taylor, who assigned it the status of a hybrid. Though interestingly Taylor also admited he couldn't explain how these 'hybrids' could arise spontaneously in gardens and in the wild.

[Margaret Thorne]

Unless I’m mistaken, that magnificent picture posted by Basant on this topic two years ago is Meconopsis superba. It is recorded as occurring in West Bhutan, Chumbi valley and perhaps elsewhere in Tibet, but as far as I know, never before in Sikkim. What a tremendous find!

[Margaret Thorne]

Perhaps not, the leaves aren't right. What do other folk think?

[James Cobb]

Strictly speaking this is M. prattii alba  (using Chris Grey-Wilsons new classification) The white form of this as M. horridula alba has been around for 40 years in cultivation. There used to be a big planting in Bob Mitchell's (Curator) own garden at the St. Andrews Botanic gardens. It turns up very so often in cultivated seed and I still have the odd plant. Like the blue form it is variable  in form and yours is nice. Seed will produce mostly blues but if you can make the effort, hand pollinate white flowered plants. As far as I am aware only M superba  is self ferile so you will need to cross pollinate between two different white plants.  James Cobb

[Roma]

Meconopsis prattii alba

i saw a white form in a bed of Meconopsis prattii (or horridula) at the Cruickshank Botanic Garden a few years ago.  I got some seed from them but did not get a white one the first year.  I sowed seed from a good deep blue form and this white one appeared this year.  I did not plant any last year so do not know if it is one which took two years to flower or if it is a self sown seedling.