South American bulbous plants 2009

[krisderaeymaeker]

And finally a last  serie with loricata  ,squomoso-radicata ssp pubescens ,and oxalis with seedpods
And speaking about seedpods ,it would be nice that someone could harvest a bit of seed from al those many splendid things ...

[Janis Ruksans]

Fantastic pictures Kris! Happy to see them in wild. It is one of my greatest dreams to go sometimes there, but it is so expensive, that I'm afraid than never I can spare so much. The flight is extremely long, too. At least I can see those beauties on your pictures.

Here I'm attaching some pictures of Oxalis laciniata selected by me from plants originally collected by Kirsten A. and so kindly spared to me.

Janis

[krisderaeymaeker]

As promise here are some pictures that I took in Patagonie ......
It starts with enneaphylla...... ,I don't know about the last one ,Is this enneaphylla?

The last could be loricata?
Janis

Thank Janis, I never be certain it was enneaphylla but some says that the enneaphylla-forms that grows in screes looks different and very compact. I am not sure ,but indeed it looks rather like loricata .
In the scree the rootstock was hidden very very  deep down ,so it was rather difficult to look at this aspect.   

[krisderaeymaeker]

Fantastic pictures Kris! Happy to see them in wild. It is one of my greatest dreams to go sometimes there, but it is so expensive, that I'm afraid than never I can spare so much. The flight is extremely long, too. At least I can see those beauties on your pictures.

Here I'm attaching some pictures of Oxalis laciniata selected by me from plants originally collected by Kirsten A. and so kindly spared to me.

Janis

The prices are indeed (too)high for South America ! But seeing those things in reality is a good painkiller ...
I am also not happy with such long flights but with a bit of sleep and a lot of plantdiscussions with other expeditionmembers I could survive ...Thanks to our tourleader,Ger Vanden Beuken- with had a very nice expedition.
As I can see you have allready many good forms at home ....Very nice! The blue ones are gorgeous !

[Janis Ruksans]

Some more of my selections and once more thanks to Kirsten for those beauties.
Janis

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Superb display Kris and Janis !!
I'm a great Oxalis fan ... these blue lacianata are really out of this world !!
Thanks for showing !

[Paul T]

Kris and Janis,

Thank you for the excellent pics.  A wonderful way to end the day.  I just got home from work and had a quick 5 minute look at the computer before heading to bed (it's 2:20am).... these pics are a real pleasure.

Looks like I have to try to track down lacineata in Australia if possible.  Absolutely stunning!! 

Thank you both.

[fleurbleue]

All these Oxalis are very stunning 

[Lesley Cox]

Superb pictures Kris and a great thrill to see so many different colours and forms.

[Lesley Cox]

In Reply 71 I am amazed to see the Oxalis out in the pasture with the Estancia horses in the background. I had always imaged the oxalis to grow in tight corners and harsh scree areas. What a wonderful sight they must be growing in among the grasses.

And in Reply 73 from Torres del Paine, can you say what the other interesting plant is, growing around the white Oxalis flower? The burnished buds look to be full of promise. I'd love to see them opened and fully in bloom.

[johnw]

Kris and Janis  - A dizzying display of Oxalis.

Kris - I have been intrigued by Estancia Stag River for years as it was the home of Ruth Tweedy who collected some very hardy plants in the area.  It has reputedly gone to -29c there years ago.  A friend was there in 1996 and it had gone to -29c the previous winter and alot of sheep died from the cold. She collected plants seed from plants that would not have been snow-covered.  I think the Junker-Iufro expedition from Denmark collected there in the 60's and got some remarkably hardy plants. Somewhere I have data on their successes.

Do tell us more of the plants from that spot.  Will you go back?

johnw

[krisderaeymaeker]

In Reply 71 I am amazed to see the Oxalis out in the pasture with the Estancia horses in the background. I had always imaged the oxalis to grow in tight corners and harsh scree areas. What a wonderful sight they must be growing in among the grasses.

At Stag River they all grow in pastures, both enneaphylla and lacianata.I don't know if they are poisonous for the horses  but as we can see the horses don't eat them.Yes it was a wonderfull sight and I dreamed that our buttercup been replaced by these South Americans .....
Before we fly to Argentina I had never an idea that they grow in such conditions.Here our books told us that they grow in peaty conditions.But looking at the structure of this grasslands it looks indeed peaty ......Amazingly we found them also in pure sand and in fine scree.      

And in Reply 73 from Torres del Paine, can you say what the other interesting plant is, growing around the white Oxalis flower? The burnished buds look to be full of promise. I'd love to see them opened and fully in bloom.

Oh yes Lesley ,very sharp eyes.........
This is Oreopolis glacialis  Oreopolus glacialis.
Another stunning scree-dweller..
I have some pictures with open buds ,I can post them later on if you interested....  

[krisderaeymaeker]

I thin

Kris - I have been intrigued by Estancia Stag River for years as it was the home of Ruth Tweedy who collected some very hardy plants in the area.  It has reputedly gone to -29c there years ago.  A friend was there in 1996 and it had gone to -29c the previous winter and alot of sheep died from the cold. She collected plants that she was sure would not have been snow-covered.  I think the Junker-Iufro expedition from Denmark collected there in the 60's and got some remarkably hardy plants. Somewhere I have data on their successes.
Do tell us more of the plants from that spot.  Will you go back?
johnw

John - I have so many good memorys of our visit to Est.Stag River.As you maybe know it is her daughter Julia who runs the Estancia now. (was it daughter or grand-daughter ,I doubt)Julia and her husband are very nice and warm-hearted people.We feel at home right from the start.Julia is also a excellent cook and her desserts were unresistable! Even in spring (time of our visit )it can be cold at that corner of Patagonie.In the winter prior to our visit also many animals died of the severe cold.We saw some dead bodys on several occasions.Indeed I think that many plants of that area must be very hardy .But I also think that the major problem must be our summer...At the Estancia was always a cooling breeze .
There is that wind and also the wet and peaty structure of the grassland were the plants find a place to grow .The wind overthere can easily blow you away,it even go trough our thermal underware!So the wind is for me the key ......,not in the winter but in summer.
The Estancia was legendary for its Oxalis but other good plants we found are Calceolaria,Olsynium ,Bolax,Pernetteya ,Anemone multifida ,Chloraea (orchid),Saxifraga magellanica,Azorella.
The scree behind the Estancia : Xerodraba,Hamadryas,Moschopsis,Nassauvia and many more
For the plants on the scree we were even to early .Due the cold and long winter the spring had a delay.   
Yes I want to go back sometimes ,but the prices for South America are very high at the moment.
And I hope to go to another area in 2011....,as South America has many more interesting alpine-areas .
I am interested in the results of that Danisch expedition .

[johnw]

Kris - Many thanks for the report, Estancia Stag River sounds as magical as I thought.

If you PM me your mailing address I will photocopy an immense tome of correspondence on the Danish results.

johnw  - an impending storm, the one that blanketed the eastern USA. We can use some more snow cover.

[Maggi Young]

Correct spelling is Oreopolus glacialis.... here are some links from the Forum to pix of the plants in flower......



http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3022.msg72967#msg72967

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2925.msg70111#msg70111