Haemanthus 2013

[jshields]

The thing I have in the greenhouse right now is foliage.  No flowers, except a few withering pauculifolius, so not interesting.  On the other hand, the leaves tend to be more informative than the flowers in many cases for Haemanthus.

First, Haemanthus dasyphyllus leaves, which are light green and quite hairy.  Dasyphyllus normally has two leaves, but younger bulbs may sometimes show either three or just one leaf.



Haemanthus unifoliatus has one leaf, except that young bulbs often sport two leaves.  These leaves are also quite hairy, but are darker green than dasyphyllus, and my plants at least have more red on the abaxial surface at the base of the leaf than is the case with dasyphyllus.  Especially in the case of a single plant not yet of bloom size, you need to know the provenance to be sure of your idientification with dasyphyllus and unifoliatus.



Haemanthus nortieri has a single leaf, at least my lone example of this species has only had one leaf a year.  The leaf stands as straight and erect as a soldier at "attention" and when fresh has a sticky surface.  It looks to me as if  the single erect dark green leaf is indicative of nortieri and the sticky surface is definitive.



This example shows the abaxial surface (underside) of the leaf and some rubbish from the potting mix still sticking to the tacky surface of the leaf.

I hope this is of some use to Haemanthophiles now and in the future.

Jim

[Heinie]

Jim,

I like the leaves too.

I have a Haemanthus barkerae opening its flower now. I will take a photo tomorrow. I also have a Brunsvigia radulosa opening the flowers.

[jshields]

Haemanthus montanus has bloomed well for me this spring.  The blooms are going over now, and I hope I get some seeds from them.  I've been cross-pollinating among the 5 clones I have in bloom. 



Last year this time, the temperatures were over 90 F (32 C) and I got only a couple seeds from montanus.  The temperatures have been much milder this spring.

Jim

[jshields]

Haemanthus humilis hirsutus is in bloom now.



This bulb came from Paul Christian years ago.  The subspecies is native to the high veld of Mpumalanga, the Drakensberg Escarpment, Swaziland, and the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.  I'm told it is also found in a couple of places in Gauteng province as well.

Jim

[jshields]

Haemanthus humilis humilis is starting to bloom. Native to the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, grows and blooms in summer. Dormant in winter, pretty easy in cultivation in a pot.

      

I need to give these a year off from making seeds; most of the bulbs are not flowering this year.

Jim

[Maggi Young]

Haemanthus humilis humilis ....

I need to give these a year off from making seeds; most of the bulbs are not flowering this year.

Jim

  Now that's interesting - we usually find that allowing bulbs to seed does not weaken flowering in the next years - because the plant will stay green longer  in seed and so feed the bulb longer.... but this seems not to be your experience with this Haemanthus. Bear in mind we don't grow these South Africans so the bulbs of which I speak are not fully comparable  - why do you think this difference might occur?

[jshields]

Without making actual notes on the subject, it is my impression that the leaves far outlast the fruit on Haemanthus in any case.  I don't think setting fruit has affected how long the leaves stay green.  This is, however, just my impression.  No hard data....

Another possibility is that these plants don't bloom every year, and the cycles are just now catching up with me.  If I can get myself sufficiently organized, I could stick some labels in the pots and track their blooms for a few seasons.

It is very hard to set fruit on Haemanthus montanus, while it has been pretty easy to set fruit on humilis humilis.  H. humilis hirsutus is almost impossible to set fruit on.  I think the difference between humilis and hirsutus is more than just that one of them is rather hairy.

Here is some fruit setting on one montanus.  All the other 4 plants set at most one seed, several set none, and all with my own diligent hand pollinations.

Jim

[jshields]

Haemanthus carneus is in bloom.  This is very similar to Haemanthus humilis humilis until you look closely at the individual flowers.



Then the stamens are seen to be shorter than the tepals.  In H. h. humilis, the stamens are longer than the tepals.

Jim

[jshields]

I guess my Haemanthus humilis humilis did not suffer from carrying too many seeds last year.  They all seem to be blooming again just like before.





I've already started pollinating again.

Jim

[Auricular]

Here are some photos from Haemanthus (and Brunsvigia) in South Africa:

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10705.0

[Hans J]

here is open for the first time H.humilis  ...after several years with waiting ...

have fun
Hans

[David Nicholson]

Well grown Hans.

[angie]

Well worth the wait Hans 

Angie 

[Hans J]

Thank you Angie  and David 

...but until now the one and only...

Hans

[Hans J]

a lucky man has some new flowers now 
This plants are growing from seeds ex African Bulbs in year 2005 !

Haemanthus humilis

Have fun
Hans