June 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere

[johnw]

Jamus  -  My Blackberry does not take focused pix at night even with the flash on.  I've replaced that pic with one from this morning.  It really is quite a sight with exotic textures and markings.  The stench is rather subdued in the cool morning air  - +14c.

john

[ashley]

The summer night air this evening is shattered by the smell of 400 rotting dead rats.

Congratulations John.
Presumably you had to host an 'arum evening' for neighbours, to head off a local insurrection or worse

[johnw]

No one responded to my invitations. 

[ashley]

Perhaps olfactory poetry isn't yet 'an actual thing' (as the young might say)

[Steve Garvie]

Perhaps olfactory poetry isn't yet 'an actual thing' (as the young might say)

Putrid poetry?
 -Such doggerel must surely exist, complete with smelly stanzas and malodorous metre.

Was that niffy classic "Ode to an Arum" not penned by William McGonagall? 

[Gabriel B]

John, I laughed really hard when I saw your first post.  I'll show it to Betty Ann.

I finally got a good picture of the fameflower (Phemeranthus parviflorus). I've grown to love this plant. It has an amazing number of bright magenta flowers with yellow stamens on long graceful branching stems. They just bloom for a short time each day, but they have a long bloom period and it's worth going out every evening to see them. The petal backs are white, and you can see them when the flowers are opening. I wonder what triggers the flowers: light levels or sun angle.

The leaves are long succulent sausages on fat stems. The plant is native to the Great Plains, and was described by Claude Barr in Jewels of the Plains. Claude Barr's work should be more widely known, with the big native plant movement beginning here in the Midwest.

[Tim Ingram]

Claude Barr's book is a real treasure! I've just looked up Phemeranthus and realised why it seemed an unfamiliar name - Barr has it as Talinum parviflorum (I know language evolves but botanical language seems to evolve at a faster rate than ever, and not necessarily helpfully ). Barr says: 'A few miles from my home: in gritty badlands clay, T. parviflorum brings a ruddy glow to an acre or more of sparsely grassed pasture'. That must be a sight to see!

[Jupiter]

Roses and blue
Violets are red
If I have to go to another poetry recital
I wish I was dead.

[Tim Ingram]

Jamus - how about this one:

TULIP

Clean as a lady,
cool as glass,
fresh without fragrance
the tulip was.

The craftsman who carved her of metal, prayed:
"Live, oh thou lovely!"
Half metal she stayed.

(Humbert Wolfe)

[meanie]

Roses and blue
Violets are red
If I have to go to another poetry recital
I wish I was dead.

Made me laugh!
I'd like to respond to you all individually but I'm too lazy  Rest assured it is nice to see so many plants that are new to me being grown so well.

So I'll lower the tone now and bore you with several photos of my favourite hardy perennial - Lobelia tupa..................






I've done a rough count of 25 or so flowering stems on this one plant this year..............


And here is Solanum lancifolium..............


It's dead easy from seed and very quick to bloom. One of the main attractions is the exotic foliage............

[fermi de Sousa]

And here is Solanum lancifolium..............

It's dead easy from seed and very quick to bloom. One of the main attractions is the exotic foliage............

Hi Meanie,
it looks like "our" Kangaroo Apple, Solanum laciniatum,
cheers
fermi

[meanie]

Hi Meanie,
it looks like "our" Kangaroo Apple, Solanum laciniatum,
cheers
fermi

I believe that it is but as I can't work out which is the currently correct name perhaps someone could help me. So I just went with the name as the seeds were supplied to me.
In the ground the leaves can be 25 to 30cm in length.

[Maggi Young]

According to the Kew Plantlist, these are the names of Solanum  which  might be confused in this case- via typos etc!

Solanum laciniatum Aiton is an accepted name
This name is the accepted name of a species in the genus Solanum (family Solanaceae).
The record derives from Tropicos (data supplied on 2012-04-18) which reports it as an accepted name (record 29600115) with original publication details: Hort. Kew. 1: 247 1789.


Solanum lanceifolium Jacq. is an accepted name
This name is the accepted name of a species in the genus Solanum (family Solanaceae).
The record derives from Tropicos (data supplied on 2012-04-18) which reports it as an accepted name (record 29601572) with original publication details: Collectanea 2: 286 1788.


Solanum lanceolatum Cav. is an accepted name
This name is the accepted name of a species in the genus Solanum (family Solanaceae).
The record derives from Tropicos (data supplied on 2012-04-18) which reports it as an accepted name (record 29604233) with original publication details: Icon. 3: 23–24, t. 245 1794.

None of these three are synonyms for each other - so research would be needed to key out the various species.

Then there are these two "unresolved" names.....
Solanum lancifolium Sessé & Moc.       
Solanum lanciforme Rydb.
 

[meanie]

Thank you Maggie!
So here's an idea for a thread - Taxonomy For Muppets. When I try I end up tying myself up in knots 

[François Lambert]

the pics were taken in in June 

my Oxalis Deppei - which I have in numbers - is just at it's peak now.  Although not visible on the picture, they are growing in pots.

in a remote corner I have a small pot of Oxalis Triangularis.  Purchased decades ago, thrives best when being neglected a bit.  Attemps to have them multiply faster had just the opposite effect.