Houstonia caerulea - photographic essay

[TheOnionMan]

Here are two buns of H. caerulea, almost a year after taking a few "snippets" from the colony shown at the beginning of this thread.  I selected forms that grew bun-like versus those that were more open and spreading.  I'm surprised by the fact some are red-leaved in winter and early spring, while others are green-leaved.  These two photographed today, 3-16-2010.

[Lesley Cox]

They've done well Mark. I'm relying on you or Helen in Canada to produce a little seed of a good blue. My own blue, a loose, spreading mat, has totally been cooked this summer, even in a cooler, shadier place than the tight, bun-like white which is doing well.

[TheOnionMan]

They've done well Mark. I'm relying on you or Helen in Canada to produce a little seed of a good blue. My own blue, a loose, spreading mat, has totally been cooked this summer, even in a cooler, shadier place than the tight, bun-like white which is doing well.

In the variable population I found, the pure white forms outshine the pale blue forms by far, but I'd love to get my hands on a deeper blue form like the one Helen showed us.  My bun-forming white ones are already seeding around, I hope in time to have it growing is swathes similar to the photos I showed.  I'm signing up for the 10k road race again this year, now with a double objective.

[Maggi Young]

McMArk, my first  thought was that the different coloured foliage must be caused by some (extremely) local condition and/or weather effect.... but now I'm asking whether there might be a difference between the white and blue flowered varieties? That is, might the redder foliage belong to  the deeper blues? 

[TheOnionMan]

McMArk, my first  thought was that the different coloured foliage must be caused by some (extremely) local condition and/or weather effect.... but now I'm asking whether there might be a difference between the white and blue flowered varieties? That is, might the redder foliage belong to  the deeper blues? 

In this population, there are some very pale blues, and it is possible I took some snippets from bluish ones too, but I was trying to select the pure white forms.  The reddish foliage one has white flowers.  In April when I viewed these all foliage color was the same... green, I just think it is some sort of genetic trait (colored foliage in the winter months), in this case unrelated to flower color. 

This past fall, I took some other very interesting photo "essays" specifically to illustrate how some plant genetics reveal themselves by fall foliage color.  For example, I have hybrid swarms of Hydrangea serrata with other lace-cap varieties like 'Blue Bird' and 'Blue Billow', each of the latter two have drastically different strong fall color. With summer foliage they can be rather lookalike, but in fall, one can recognize parentage instantly.  Many Epimedium reveal parentage by virtue of their fall/winter color.

And, there is a converse example, where the American native Hypericum frondosum (wonderful shrub) seeds about, but in autumn, some color up flame red and orange, some turn yellow or pinkish, others turn dark maroon, some remain steely blue-grey.

But I'm familiar with the darker-leaf equating to a darker flowered form in some plants; I allow the mildly aggressive Campanula persicifolia to pop up in my garden, and I can always tell from the leaf and petiole colorations which will be white or blue.

[Lesley Cox]

The red foliage on the Houstonia is VERY attractive.

[Kristl Walek]

Bluets are on my list to locate and photograph in the wild this year in western Nova Scotia---as they were not native to my former area of Ontario. They are apparently abundant near Halifax.

I have found references to a variety (Houstonia caerulea var. piersii) described by Captain Barbour in 1905 on his botanical explorations of McNabs Island (off the coast near Halifax). I am not sure if this is still recognized as a distinct variety. It's description is in the following (very fascinating) original account.


http://dalspace1.library.dal.ca/dspace/bitstream/handle/10222/12628/v11_p4_a1_Barbour_flora_McNabs_Island.pdf?sequence=1

[TheOnionMan]

Bluets are on my list to locate and photograph in the wild this year in western Nova Scotia---as they were not native to my former area of Ontario. They are apparently abundant near Halifax.

I have found references to a variety (Houstonia caerulea var. piersii) described by Captain Barbour in 1905 on his botanical explorations of McNabs Island (off the coast near Halifax). I am not sure if this is still recognized as a distinct variety. It's description is in the following (very fascinating) original account.

http://dalspace1.library.dal.ca/dspace/bitstream/handle/10222/12628/v11_p4_a1_Barbour_flora_McNabs_Island.pdf?sequence=1

Kristl, an interesting link.  The author describes observing 1500 plants and finding some H. caerulea flowers having flowers with 6 petals instead of the normal 4, and even found a few flowers having 7 petals, although I think we've all seen plants with aberrant numbers of floral parts at times.  I have never seen H. caerulea plants have anything but the usual 4 petals, but will look more closely next time.  The Flora of North America project hasn't published the Rubiaceae yet, but it is my belief none of the very local or minor varieties are recognized.

[Kristl Walek]

I plan an outing to McNabs Island this year---as I am most interested is seeing the Houstonia populations, and counting petals....

[TheOnionMan]

I plan an outing to McNabs Island this year---as I am most interested is seeing the Houstonia populations, and counting petals....

Excellent!  Please post back here with some close-up photos to give us a sampling of the diversity you find.  The McNabs document does not describe flower color, so I'm interested to see what the blue color range might be.

[TheOnionMan]

The buns of Houstonia caerulea are showing new growth and buds, the red-leaf buns are now turning green.  Here's a closeup showing the flower buds forming.

[Maggi Young]

Yup, there's a lot of nice  growth going on there, and what a change to the foliage colour.

[TheOnionMan]

Yup, there's a lot of nice growth going on there, and what a change to the foliage colour.

Well, the red-leaved ones are still discernibly reddish, but quickly changing to green.  My guess, in a week all will look the same.  The photo shows the winter green-leaved one.

[Maggi Young]

The buns of Houstonia caerulea are showing new growth and buds, the red-leaf buns are now turning green.  Here's a closeup showing the flower buds forming.

Yup, there's a lot of nice growth going on there, and what a change to the foliage colour.

Well, the red-leaved ones are still discernibly reddish, but quickly changing to green.  My guess, in a week all will look the same.  The photo shows the winter green-leaved one.

Ah, I misunderstood your earlier post... thought that the one pictured was the redd version in transition.

[TheOnionMan]

Here's what the winter-red-leaved bun looks like today, March 26, 2010.