Polygonatum, A pictorial guide

[bulborum]

Beauty the ono name
you got this one from Chen Yi
or did you buy it elsewhere
I agree with Mark
This one should be more available

Roland

[arisaema]

I bought the no-name from someone who received it from Chen Yi 10 years ago. I've only had it since last fall, but it seems quite vigorous

Mark;
I think P. roseum is starting to become more available, it's very much like Smilacina stellata in vigor and habit, making big, loose colonies. I'm happy to send you a rhizome if you'd like, there's plenty of it.

[bulborum]

I find the ono named on the best pink one
I have ever seen
Is the nursery still selling this one
I would be interested to buy a couple

Roland

[arisaema]

Roland;
It's not a nursery I'm afraid, and he doesn't do mail-order, so you would have to pick them up in Sweden... As mentioned it seems quite vigorous, so I should be able to divide it in a couple of years time.

[annew]

Please can someone explain to me the difference between P. cirrhifolium and P. curvistylum? Thanks.

[bulborum]

Hello annew

P. curvistylum as the name says has a curved style
P. cirrhifolium not

Roland

[Lesley Cox]

Mark, I could maybe do a little bit of P. graminifolum for you later in its season. Would you be able to receive a small, flat parcel?

[arisaema]

Please can someone explain to me the difference between P. cirrhifolium and P. curvistylum? Thanks.

P. curvistylum has leaves that (usually) nod down, and should not have cirrhose leaf-tips. It's flowers are white, pink or purple, and it's relatively rare in cultivation.

P. cirrhifolium (below) has straight leaves with cirrhose leaf-tips that cling for support, and flowers are (I think) usually in shades of green/beige.

[Afloden]

 My P. curvistlyum CLD761 (ex Edrom) might be the only P. curvistylum I have received, but even the style on it is straight. All the others that have flowered are not curvistlyum. One has scabrous stems, the other is pink flowered and near P. roseum.

 P. cirrhifolium is a larger plant over all also. The flowers on curvistlyum are usually borne singly (1/pedicel) and pink. Their are rhizome differences also.

 Bjornar,

 That roseum is nice. My plants look the same vegetatively, but never flower. It may be a temperature issue for me. Are yours from CY also? It does spread far and wide by rhizomes though, even more so than my one clone of Smilacina stellata.

 Aaron

[bulborum]

Hello Aaron

Is the old name Smilacina valid again
see Chinese Maianthemum headache

Roland

[annew]

Thank you, friends. What a pity I didn't ask while they were still in flower.

[Afloden]

The collection information for the P. "roseum" plant offered by Desirable Plants and previously by others is; SBQE1310 -- Sino-British Qinghai Expedition 1997, 1310, 26 July 1999, China: Qinghai:Haibei Zang Aut. Pref. Zhugu Xiang, Dongxä village. Latitude: 37° 7' 8'' N , Longitude: 102° 18' 59'' E.

  The voucher specimen is housed at RBGE. I am still unsure of the identification, but I should have a clearer answer come spring. I recently saw P. kansuense in the herbarium at Missouri Botanical Garden and cannot see how that species is in synonymy with another. The pubescence on the stem and leaf abaxial distinct.

 More to come... finally.

[Maggi Young]

Excellent, Aaron, thank you.

[Johan Nilson]

Thanks a lot all of you for excellent pictures and info on this very interesting genus!

Here are some Polygonatum pictures from Gothenburg Botanical garden last summer. Hopefully someone can help me with identification.

(Changes made after Aaron's suggestions)
1-3 Polygonatum sp. from S Korea (P. odoratum)
4-5 Polygonatum sp. from Shanghai (probably a species within the fuscum group)
6-7 Polygonatum prattii (KGB-540) (P. stewartianum)
8 Polygonatum sp. (P. prattii)

Johan

[Afloden]

Johan,
 
 The sp South Korea will have to go into the P. odoratum as currently circumscribed. I really think there are several taxa involved, but I am still unsure of the characters that may separate them. I do have a clone similar to this in cultivation.

 The Shangai sp is strange. Likely in that fuscum group. Would like to know the origin other than Shanghai.

 The KGB-540 is P. stewartianum. Looks like they are using the old Jeffrey key where he mixed the true prattii with P. cirrhifolium and accepted P. delavayi as the valid name.

 The last is a form of P. prattii. I received rhizomes recently of a plant that looks very similar to this and cannot wait to compare it to my other three clones. It is more variable than I thought.

 All the best,
 
 Aaron