South African bulbose plants 2007

[fermi de Sousa]

More South African bulbs are coming into bloom.
First another hybrid nerine, possibly "Ariel"
Next a lovely yellow Oxalis with foliage like a miniature confier, O. kaajvoegensis. and lastly 2 pics of the lovely Moraea polystachya
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

for some reason those pics didn't post!
I'll try again!
I'll also re-post the Lachenalia viridiflora I just posted under the Southern hemisphere thread.
cheers
fermi

[Rafa]

Beautiful plants Fermi, specially to me Moraea, as is on of my favourite genus!

Thanks for sharing!

Here Moraea elegans

[fermi de Sousa]

I've just posted a few pics of winter flowering nerines on the Southern Hemisphere thread:http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=555.msg13927#new
This one is the most prolific (I only have one of each of the others!) and it produces lots of flowers as long as we don't have a severe frost before the flower stems elongate: last year we had virtually no flowers due to the harsh frosts.
I'm not sure if it really is N. flexuosa, but it seems very much like the one we call N. flexuosa "Alba" which flowers in May. I was told that it's now called N. undulatifolia or something like that, but I didn't take much notice at the time!
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Rafa
That Moraea elegans is lovely but unfortunately it's a prohibited plant here; I think it may be poisonous to cattle or something! We used to grow them when they were still Homeria and I particularly liked the apricot coloured ones (H.collina?), very distinctive in the paddocks!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

That apricot is an appalling weed here. Many years ago my mother had it come up in an area where she'd planted something from a nursery. Not knowing what it was, she took it the local MAF office and was practically arrested. They had posters in their lobby about it and how terrible it was and that it was illegal to have it on your property. Within an hour they'd send a couple of guys to her house and they dug the patch where it was - didn't ask or discuss it mind you - and took the soil for nearly a metre down and a metre all around the few bulbs there were. What they did with it I don't know but as you can imagine, my ma was very distressed. It is a dreadful weed, no doubt about that with thousands of bulbils forming on every bulb, and they detach at the slightest touch or vibration but it is also poisonous to cloven hoofed animals, I believe can be deadly.

[fermi de Sousa]

I've posted other South African bulbs pics in the "early Spring in the Southern hemisphere" thread, so here are a few new ones.
An orange flowered Spiloxene; the flower is about 2cm across. Any suggestions for a specific name?
next two close-ups of Gladiolus pritzelii.
cheers
fermi

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Again very interesting pix of your gladi's Fermi - definitely a genus I need to examine more carefully....

[David Shaw]

In 2003 I aquired seed of Romulea tempskyana from the exchange. This beautiful fellow has just emerged - except that I think 'tempskyana' should be blue. This colouring is definitely South African but can anyone give me a name? The total height is about 6".

[Hans J]

Hi David ,

I'm sorry to say : but this is a ordinary Zephyranthes tubispathus !
I have in this time a lot of different Zephyranthes with different names and from different sources -it is all the same -it is really a pity !

Hans

[Lesley Cox]

And it's South American, not South African.

Romulea seeds are quite like those of Crocus; small, globular and tan to mid brown. Habranthus/Zephranthes seeds are black, flat, glossy and roughly triangular. Like a glossy black frit or lily seed.

[David Shaw]

Hmm, at least I could spell Romulea! And sorry, but I cann't remember what the seed looked like. But 'ordinary' or not, Hans, I have not grown it before and it is most unusual.
Thanks for the information.

[Maggi Young]

It is a lovely colour, isn't it? And eventually it''l make a nice potfull for a late show!

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi David,
if that Habranthus had flowered in one of my Romulea seedpots I would've presumed that a seed had blown in from nearby. This Habranthus frequently turns up in the Seedexes as one of the rarer rain-lilies such as H. gracillifolius. I like it a lot but dead-head it as soon as its flower goes over as the seedlings can turn up a few metres away from the parent plant.
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Fermi, your seed from April is starting to germinate today, along with Iris flavissima, from Gote, sown in August 2005 so 2 full years. But great to see it at last.