Pamianthe peruviana

[Alberto]

Hi all.
I have been blooming in these days this wonderful bulb, almost by me. In nature it grows as epiphytic in evergreen forests of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The single flower, strongly scented at night, is about 30 cm long and 17 cm wide, long lasting! I hope you enjoy it.

[Carlo]

Che bella!

[ian mcenery]

Fantastic 

[Ezeiza]

Hi:
    It says a lot about your excellence as a grower, Alberto!
    This plant is notoriously difficult to grow not to mention flowering.

     All recent reports say it is extinct in the wild. Its future is black as it is not easy to provide the tropical conditions it needs.

Congratulations

[Anthony Darby]

Looks like you have a nice greenhouse with cycads and ferns too Alberto?

[Thomas Huber]

That's exactly what I thought, too Anthony!
Seems like Grossi-garden is worth a visit 

[Alberto]

Hi all,
indeed only the first picture is from the bulb in  my greenhouse. The other with ferns and cycads is a photo I took in the Botanical Garden in Zurich in 2006.
I grow my Pamianthe along with orchids, bromeliads and epiphytic cacti (only species) and other tropical Amaryllidaceae (Griffinia, Eithea, Eucharis, Proiphys, Crinum, Hymenocallis) in a warm little greenhouse I build last year.
Of course friends are welcome!

Alberto

[Maggi Young]

I grow my Pamianthe along with orchids, bromeliads and epiphytic cacti (only species) and other tropical Amaryllidaceae (Griffinia, Eithea, Eucharis, Proiphys, Crinum, Hymenocallis) in a warm little greenhouse I build last year.
Of course friends are welcome!

Alberto, from this list there seems no room for visitors!   

[Alberto]

Maggi, before I have to put outside the 3 staghorn ferns, then visitors can visit...

[Maggi Young]

Alberto, you are the perfect host to make such arrangements for your guests! Is there perhaps also cake and tea?




There is a distinct resemblance between this large flowered Pamianthe and some Ismene sp, Hymenocallis and Pancratium.... I know all are in the amaryllidaceae but so are lots of other plants which do not havethethis flower shape.... how closely are these species related?

[Alberto]

Maggi , I hope you like Twinings's tea as I drink only that. I can cook a pineapple cake if you come! 

About Amaryllidaceae.  Pamianthe is in the Tetraploid Andean Clade, and the chromosome number (2n= 46) is the main character from the other American members (2n= 22) of Amaryllidaceae. Pamianthe with Paramongaia and Clinanthus is in the Clinantheae, according to the systematic review of Alan Meerow. It shares with other genus, like Pancratium, Vagaria, Hymenocallis...the presence of a pseudocorona, that is a staminal cup. It is told they have  a 'pancratoid' floral morphology. But they differs in the shape and nature of seeds, number of chromosomes.

Ciao
Alberto

[Maggi Young]

Twining's tea is perfectly acceptable! Thank you!

So the similarities with these plants are chiefly superficial, in the appearance , since chromosome numbers vary ?  This shows how difficult it can be for the amateur to make identification with only  naked eye view of a plant 

[Maggi Young]

Identification is always easier when one is in a place where a certain plant is endemic, though 

[Tomass]

Hi,

Alberto very nice plant/picture of your Pamianthe in flower and as you wrote it's always easier to get difficult tropical species to flower in a greenhouse, I have two Pamianthe peruviana in my apartment mature bulbs and they have not yet flowered for me, but maybe next year if I have luck and they grows well in my apartment on a plate with water and I sprout them every day with distil water!

Regards
Tomas
sweden

[Rogan]

I have been spelbound the past few days watching my first Pamianthe peruviana blossom unfurl - It has been four years and four months from seed...   

Tepal tip to tepal tip the flower is 150mm in diameter and in length nearly 280mm, including the floral tube and ovary.

Although my flowers are cream with a slight tint of green, they are not as green as my camera portrays them - obviously a characteristic of my cheap digital camera.

Superficially the flowers resemble those of a "Queen of the Night" cactus (Selenicereus et al.), but last much longer and are also strongly scented at night.