South African bulbose plants 2009

[David Nicholson]

Here's one I am quietly proud of Lachenalia aloides quadricolor, and yes you will have seen this type of plant before in Hans J's avatar. I bought the plant in late spring last year and of course, although it was nice and dry under the greenhouse staging for the summer! it didn't get an awful lot of heat. Although they are said to be not frost hardy this one has taken some frost in the grenhouse this year just covered with a sheet of fleece. The crowning point was in Luit's Show report he mentioned that Lachenalia should not be watered from the top- this has been!! because I didn't realise that.

 

[Lvandelft]

Don't push your luck David.
I know of a nursery here in the area which produce 10.000Nd's in pots and after watering
from the top, the staff is looking for plants with water in the rosettes and empty them.

[Lesley Cox]

Mine are in the garden and always get watered from the top, either hose in the spring or rain all year round. Good drainage is the thing.

[Lvandelft]

Here we have to grow them under glass.
Watering plants is totally different from those growing in the garden!

[Rogan]

I was intrigued to find this single 'peloric' flower on a normal spike of Gladiolus dalenii. This specimen was growing naturally beside the Sani Pass road in the southern Drakensberg.

I've often wondered whether this trait would be carried on from generation to generation, but I suppose the fact that the other flowers on the spike were normal makes this just a chance mutation not to be repeated.

Interesting...

[Lesley Cox]

What does "peloric" mean Rogan? Upward-facing or something like that? It isn't in my dictionary. That stippling is very pretty.

[Maggi Young]

"peloric" refers to a flower that is very regular and symetrical on a plant  which usually has asymetrical or irregular flowers

[Lesley Cox]

Ah... Thank you Maggi. Another one to add to my mental dictionary of "new" words. Currently I like "mundungus." I may find it difficult to use in a Forum post however.

[Maggi Young]

Currently I like "mundungus." I may find it difficult to use in a Forum post however.

 There may be a chance in the "Edible and Useful" area, Lesley



 An aid to puzzled readers.......... http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-mun1.htm

[Lesley Cox]

I'll work on it Maggi. Did you have to look it up? It's one my late mother threw at my late brother-in-law. They had a silly thing going where they each tried to outwit the other with words. Both were very good at crossword puzzles, which I'm not.

[Rogan]

Perhaps one of the most famous peloric plant of all is the 'gloxinia' of commerce.

Sinningia speciosa, the parent species of all the beautiful gloxinias we buy to add some Christmas colour to our homes (at least here in the southern hemisphere), has pale blue slipper-shaped (zygomorphic) flowers with only four fertile stamens - the fifth being reduced to a small projection.

Occasionally S. speciosa will produce bell-shaped, radially symmetrical flowers (actinomorphic) with five fertile stamens - hence the origin of all our beautiful florist gloxinias. The true Gloxinia is not closely related to Sinningia at all.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Rogan, now I get the picture. We used to have gloxinias in our flower shops, supermarkets etc at Christmas. Haven't seen one for years now, though. A fashion thing maybe.

[Hristo]

Hi there,
Wet,sleety and cold here in Bulgaria, off into town for supplies, I look at these Lachenalias to make me feel warmer! Anybody else growing much in the way of species Lachenalia?

[Lesley Cox]

Several of the Forumists grow some Hristo. They're popular here in NZ and I have maybe a dozen species. A favourite is the yellow L. reflexa and another, the seagreen L. viridiflora.

[Hristo]

Hi there Lesley
That's a fine looking viridiflora,I have this growing from Silverhill seed along with haarlamensis and few others.
I love bulbifera but will have to 'cull' thus year as it is simply to 'enthusiastic' and is taking up far too many pots!
Please post any other pics you have, always fascinating to me to see how other folks grow their plants, and always good to hear L.reflexa amongst others is well established in cultivation.