Ranzania, Schizocodon, Shortia

[Olga Bondareva]

Thanks for comments Aaron! Your shortia is beautiful! Why do you grow it in a pot not in the garden?

Schizocodon seeds refused to germinate last year now are with first leaf.

[jomowi]

Afloden

I liked your post about the way that Shortia galicifolia grows.  Now I understand why mine has spread so well, while the new shoots do not run through the surface layer they do root readily where they make contact with the surface so that the plant is now 48cm across despite taking a lot of cuttings.  Do you know if this method of growth also applies to the other species Ss. uniflora and soldaneloides (now I think Schizocodon) in the wild.  For me S. soldaneloides spreads by runners and S. uniflora kantoense also roots as it spreads.

Brian Wilson Aberdeen

[Afloden]

 I guess I should say that in studies germination drops to almost zero. But, these were scientists not experienced gardeners.
 
Given some sandy acidic soil Shortia grows fairly well. It does not like prolonged drought. Thus, my growing it in a pot. In Kansas I have clay that is sticky when wet and rock when dry if it is not amended with organic material. I also have extened dry summers that have killed divisions in the garden before.

 I have no experience seeing the others or growing them. I did see a friend in eastern Pennsylvania growing S.soldaneloides in shade in sandy soil with Hepatica japonica. It seemed happy.

 A paper in Taiwania  discusses the Taiwanese S.rotundifolia (syn. exapendiculata). It mentions only montane forests. I assume that conditions are very similar to those of S. galacifolia. Check Google Scholar, "shortia & Taiwania", and you should find it. The article is free. Also, try searching for photos of the species in the wild. Yahoo Japan has some good pictures and I recall some showing the habitat. From memory it seemed very close to S. galacifolia.

 On nomenclature; Ronblom and Anderberg (Systematic Botany:27(2), 2002) offers a family phylogeny and subsumes Schizocodon within Shortia. I see them all as Shortia also. No reason to create a new genus because an ocean and a lot of land is between the two distribution centers.

 Aaron

[Diane Whitehead]

I have one plant each of Shortia galacifolia and uniflora in the bed where I grow
Arisaemas, Hepaticas, and other plants that require summer watering.

The galacifolia is hidden under a Camellia grijsii, but the uniflora is out in the open.
 I have just noticed semi-circular munches out of the leaf rims- the work of a leafcutter bee?

[Gene Mirro]

Is anyone willing to share some seed?  I haven't heard a peep.