Fine Foliage... curly or spiralled leaves

[Oron Peri]

Edit from Maggi : I'm opening this thread for fancy foliage, as a result of a comment in the Muscari thread.... I will copy the relevant post and photo here ....... and move other posts  across....

From Thread:  Muscari http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2883.15

....where a plant was described as having curly leaves which were thought to have been caused by a virus......

« Reply #24 on: Today at 10:52:46 AM »
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Quote from: Paul T on Today at 10:15:57 AM
Arthur,

The leaves on mine I wouldn't think of as virused.... they are decidedly curled, but then so are a lot of plants of many genus (think Albuca spiralis etc), and a great blue-grey to them.  Those to me are a feature, not a detrimental aspect.  And I adore the colour of the flower, which is unlike any other Muscari I have found at this stage (not that I have a huge collection by any means).

Oron  Peri replied.....
Paul
I agree with you that curled leaves are not always virused,
Many species, mainly those that grow in the desert adapted this characteristic, probably in order to minimise exposure of leaf surface to the backing sun.
attached M. filiforme,  often with curly leaf.

Oron,
 I would love to collect more plants with curled or spiralled leaves, as the leaves last for so much longer than the flowers in general.

In this case you should add these too:
Urginea undulata



and Pancratium sickenbergeri !!!



Paul T. replies to Oron.....

            Oron,

I'll have to keep that one in mind if I ever see it.  Very, very cool leaves and great flowers.  I would love to collect more plants with curled or spiralled leaves, as the leaves last for so much longer than the flowers in general.  

[Rogan]

Fantastic leaves! Enough to make you want to weep... This is Moraea pritzeliana (syn. Gynandriris) in the Hantam mountains, Northern Cape:

[Carlo]

three of each, please...

[maggiepie]

These plants are amazing, have never seen anything like them before, am starting to think I have lived my life inside a paper bag!!

[Oron Peri]

Another one that belongs here: Tulipa agenensis ssp. sharonensis

[kirsitn]

Fantastic! Does anyone know of any curly-leaved species that are likely to be hardy outside in Norway? (Minimum winter temperature is usually around -12 C where I live.)

[mark smyth]

Someone now needs to show Galanthus ?gracilis 'Corkscrew'

[Gerdk]

Here is Cyrtanthus smithiae from the Eastern Cape

Gerd

[arillady]

What fabulous leaves - some of these look like they should do well with the arils. Time to start a list of species with curled and twisted leaves now to keep near the computer.
Thanks so much everyone who has posted so far. Look forward to seeing more.
Pat T

[fermi de Sousa]

Here is Cyrtanthus smithiae from the Eastern Cape
Gerd

Gerd,
that's a fine looking flower even if it didn't have swirly foliage!
cheers
fermi

[art600]

I am glad my comment on the leaves of Muscari 'Valerie Finnis' has resulted in such a wonderful array of plants - and more to come I am sure.  My comment meant to say that it never blooms with leaves that are perfect - in fact they start to go over before the flower is fully out, thereby spoiling an otherwise excellent plant.  Virused was perhaps a step too far.

[Paul T]

Oron,

I've just seen the pictures of Urginea undulata and Pancratium sickenbergeri !!!  I would love some of both.  That Urginea is probably even more impressive as I would imagine that those leaves are not small either, so they'd be rather noticeable.  I will definitely have to keep an eye out for the Urginea undulata, that is for sure.  Thanks for the pictures, and to those others who have posted more since.

[Rogan]

I love that tulip - I need at least three of those! 

Here's another one of my favorites: Gethyllis villosus - lurking in the shade of a boulder in the Great Karoo near the little town of Loxton.

[Oron Peri]

Wow Rogan that is an amazing one,
certainly not recommended  for someone that suffer from Arachnophobia
Thanks for showing it.

[Stephenb]

Not exactly with the same degree of curliness factor as that last one, but I've always fancied Mark Mc Donough's Curly Swirly Onions, in particular Allium spirale (in the middle of the page) and the wide-leaved forms of Allium nutans

http://www.plantbuzz.com/Allium/Gallery/curly/curly_swirly_onions.htm


Any ideas about how to get hold of some of these would be welcome...