Lapiedra martinezii

[Alberto]

Hi All,
here is my Lapiedra martinezii, in the Amaryllidaceae family, blooming for the first time. Two floral scapes arose from the leafless bulb. The flowers last only one day closing definitely in the evening. They are lemon-scented at midday. It comes from south of Spain.
 
Alberto
Italy

[Rafa]

Beautiful macro!

More info here:
http://www.regmurcia.com/servlet/s.Sl?sit=c,365,m,1050&r=ReP-6700-DETALLE_REPORTAJES

[Maggi Young]

Enchanting, Alberto! I know nothing about it!   Thanks for that link, Rafa.

[Lesley Cox]

You can SEE that it is scented. And yes, that's a silly statement but that thick, waxy look cries out that it would be deliciously perfumed. I'd have expected something more lush than lemon though.

[Paul T]

Alberto,

That is stunning.  Never heard of the genus before, but definitely will keep an eye out in the future. I love "pure" flowers like that.  Is it something that is in collections, or is it one of these obscure genus that we only ever see in places like this?

[fermi de Sousa]

That is stunning.  Never heard of the genus before, but definitely will keep an eye out in the future. I love "pure" flowers like that.  Is it something that is in collections, or is it one of these obscure genus that we only ever see in places like this?

And what's even better is that this species is on ICON so is allowed into Australia! Now we just need someone to send us some seed! Something else to out out for on the Seedex lists!
Thanks, Alberto and Rafa, for showing it to us.
cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Fermi,

That means someone here at least is likely to be growing it.... it's obscure enough I'd imagine that it wouldn't have been added without someone requesting it?  Yes, need seed!! 

[Diane Clement]

And what's even better is that this species is on ICON so is allowed into Australia! Now we just need someone to send us some seed! Something else to out out for on the Seedex lists! 

It is a little beauty.  The good news is, I do have it,
The bad news is, it only flowers after a hot summer ... that's twice in however many years that I've been growing it.  And the flowers last a few hours, which cuts the chance of seed to about zero.  So little chance of seed from me getting into the exchanges, however it has been listed on the AGS seed exchange several times in the last few years, so someone somewhere is succeeding with it.

[Paul T]

Diane,

Should flower well for us here then.    Once we have it we should be able to get good flowering (and hopefully therefore lots of seed) from it and be able to spread it around.    At least if someone can get it to Fermi there is a good chance of it being grown to it's best potential anyway!!

[Rafa]

I will collet this species but I'm affraid it will be too late to send SRGC seedslist, so I will offer through the forum.

[art600]

Rafa
Could I be put on what I expect will be a very long list of forumists who would like seed.

[fermi de Sousa]

Rafa,
as I mentioned before it is allowed into Australia! So if you have some spare I'd love to try it.
Still no sign of the other seeds so I presume they are sitting on a customs desk somewhere!
cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Fermi,

It just took seed from Hans 11 and a bit days to get to me here in Canberra, which is rather longer than it usually takes from the Northern Hemisphere to get to me here, so there is likely some backlog in the system somewhere.  It was opened by quarantine on the way.  Maybe yours will get through soon.

[Cris]

What a beautiful species. I've heard that it exists also in Portugal, but I've never seen it.

Rafa, don't forget me when you get some seeds, ok?

[Juan Fornes]

  Lovely flower, Alberto. One of my favourite wild bulbs here in Spain. Please let me add some pics:
A) buds and flower
B) flowers
C) fruiting capsules
D) Leaves from my recently re-potted plants ( so not at their best at that moment...)
E) Though leaves seem from two Lapiedras, the one at the left is from Pancratium (=Vagaria) parviflorum, and the one at the right from Lapiedra. See how strikingly similar they are! Even flowers are very similar, and P. parviflorum comes from the other side of the Mediterranean sea. Hope to take pictures this summer if lucky enough to have this Pancratium in flower (I have just got them this year
 
  Cris, I don´t think you could find it in Portugal: literature says it is spread from Castellón province (very rare here already), south to Málaga and then in North Africa. Anyway, fortunately plants don´t understand of political artificial boundaries, so maybe it could be found in south Portugal (maybe in the impressive cabo de San Vicente?)