Massonia 2017

[johnw]

1-2  Massonia obovata from a 2013 sowing.


3 Massonia pustulata, one showing the bumps at long last.


johnw

[Rimmer de Vries]

Very nice  John.

How is Massonia obovata different from Massonia echinata?
is there locality information?

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Massonia

[johnw]

I'll check the labels shortly.


john

[Darren]

First flowers in a crowded pot of seedlings of 'Massonia sp nov' from Silverhill Seeds in 2013. The many tiny pustules and the blue throat to the flower tube suggest this is the true M. pustulata. Incidentally - Silverhill currently list 'M.depressa' with a picture of a seemingly identical plant.

[Darren]

A year or two back I posted a picture of a Massonia seedling with nicely tesselated leaves. It originally came labelled 'M. hirsuta' which was clearly wrong. It has now flowered. The leaf markings have faded away and it seems to be a form of M. depressa with rather untidy white perianth segments.

[angie]

A year or two back I posted a picture of a Massonia seedling with nicely tesselated leaves. It originally came labelled 'M. hirsuta' which was clearly wrong. It has now flowered. The leaf markings have faded away and it seems to be a form of M. depressa with rather untidy white perianth segments.

Darren is this quite common for the young leaves to loose mottled look .

Angie 

[Darren]

I'm guessing it is normal for this to fade - or at least get less distinguishable as the leaf tissue expands and 'dilutes' the pigmentation. First time I've had a plant of depressa with these markings so can't be certain. There are pictures on the web of plants that have kept their markings.

 I have forms of longipes which have very purple leaves when they just emerge but this fades to a vague dark tint to the green by flowering time.

[angie]

Thanks Darren, I have a couple that start of with lovely markings but soon loose that, more the pity as I like when the leaves are marked .

Angie 

[Rimmer de Vries]

Massonia pustulata  seed pods opening today.

Grown from seed Arnold donated to the PBS BX in May 2013

[johnw]

My M. pustalatas are a month or more away from flowering.  They've been kept at 4-6c since emerging but are now in a warmer ghouse at 12c.

john

[johnw]

Ex SRGC 2013 seed lot of Massonia pustulata.  It was not until the winter of 2016 that the pustulated leaves appeared on some.  I kept the ones with the most interesting foliage - a few tessalated ones - and the rest went to the UBC sale. Possibly the good ones will improve but it's been a long wait.  I've kept a very dark plain green one (the last photo) that appears to be not so dark once fully leafed out.  Awaiting the appearance of the M. depressas, just peeping.

Sadly the two PaulC M. wittebergensis have failed to appear and no sign of them in the pots.

johnw
20c with cool ocean breezes

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi John,
Just wondered if you were aware that M. wittebergensis is a summer grower, so does not appear until March or April, grows over the summer and is going dormant right now. Accordingly, seed of this (and M. saniensis, the other summer-growing Massonia) should be sown in March. If you have been treating them as winter-growers then being watered at the wrong time would probably have rotted them off. I can let you have some young replacements if you want - send me a private message.

It would be worth repeating what I've posted before too that Massonia are very promiscuous and it's obvious that most seed sent to the exchanges has been open-pollinated and thus produces hybrids. I've seen a lot of hybrids now in collections and in pictures online and had many arise in my own collection from seed from the exchanges. If we want pure species, it is important that in future we isolate relevant plants and hand pollinate them.

Paul

[johnw]

Paul - It's very odd,  I store the wittebergensis & saniensis dry and cool through the winter then move them to greenhouse in Spring, usually late March.  They have always appeared shortly thereafter and would then receive a cautious watering.  By August there was nothing showing in the wittebergensis pots and upon inspection no sign of bulbs.  One pot of your saniensis had one tall willowy shoot in late Spring and it persists with no signs of dying down, I expect it will in the next few weeks.  The other pot of SABG saniensis sprouted in late January 2017 but died down in June and now they've appeared again with no water, I likely started the seeds too early.  Our weather has been erratic, cool until mid July then cool and warm so my guess is they're all rather confused.

john

[Steve Garvie]

I think this teeny wee Massonia might be Massonia pygmaea ssp. pygmaea but I would be grateful for confirmation.



I bought this as Massonia pygmaea but I think it might perhaps be Massonia tenella ......maybe.

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Steve,

A while ago I asked the botanists at Graz University in Austria (who are trying to sort out the taxonomy of Massonia) about M. pygmaea and its other subspecies kamiesbergensis as I was confused when reading literature about them. The plant you picture has, everywhere I have seen it, been labelled M. pygmaea ssp pygmaea. In this sense, your identification is right. However, this plant does not match the original description of the holotype specimen which, among other things, is described as "always hairless and not bristly or pustulate". The Graz botanists say they are working on sorting out the pygmaea alliance but that this will take some time. Meanwhile, one possible outcome could be that what we currently grow as ssp. kamiesbergensis (which has neither hairs or pustules) is actually the true M. pygmaea ssp. pygmaea and that the hairy plant you picture will end up with a new name. (Note, the hairy/pustulate plant and the smooth-leaved one grow over 200km apart in the wild).

I believe the other plant you picture is indeed M. tenella

Paul