Haplocarpha rueppelii - hardy

[Gerdk]

After the species mentioned above survived two of the colder winters outside in  the 'bog' I guess it could be stated a hardy perennial. This fact is poorly known and somewhat surprising because of the origin of the plant. Haplocarpha rueppelii comes from the mountains of tropical East Africa.
The preference for wetland conditions was already discussed in this Forum.

Gerd

[Maggi Young]

No denying those plants look very healthy, Gerd. Wonderful what a little experiment can reveal, isn't it?

[Great Moravian]

Haplocarpha rueppelii comes from the mountains of tropical East Africa.

I wonder where precisely the cultivated strain was collected. I found a record Haplocarpha rueppelii <ln Lesotho>.
Leaves are too narrow for Haplocarpha rueppellii, backwards oriented basal lobules are not present
in Haplocarpha rueppellii in which radially oriented lobules are evenly distributed along the margin.
There is a gardening wisdom which follows.
If you are cultivating without problems a plant which is not cultivable,
it is not the plant.

[Maggi Young]

Haplocarpha rueppelii comes from the mountains of tropical East Africa.

I wonder where precisely the cultivated strain was collected.

 Yes, it would be interesting to know that and to see how wide the range of the plant is.... all of which might impact on the hardiness if different strains.

I see that Franz Hadacek has no problems with it, either........
http://www.franz-alpines.org/gartenpflanzenrahmen.html


  Should there be an extra "l" in the name....
Haplocarpha rueppellii (Sch.Bip.) Beauverd

[Great Moravian]

Should there be an extra "l" in the name....
Haplocarpha rueppellii (Sch.Bip.) Beauverd

One l for Beauverd, two for Sch. Bip. are written in Plant Names Index. I cannot guess at the moment which is correct.
Probably ruppellii without e because it was published rüppellii and published accents ought to be removed.
Confer http://www.botanicus.org/page/38561

[hadacekf]

My Haplocarpha rueppellii was hard until this winter. In spite of a snow cover, I lost 90 % from my plants.

[Maggi Young]

My Haplocarpha rueppellii was hard until this winter. In spite of a snow cover, I lost 90 % from my plants.

Oh dear, I spoke too soon, Franz. I was thinking of the lovely pictures on your website from previous years.

[Gerdk]

My Haplocarpha rueppellii was hard until this winter. In spite of a snow cover, I lost 90 % from my plants.

Franz, it is exactly your clone I am talking about. Here ' in the north ' the plant is perfectly hardy and happy in boggy conditions - it seems that is the point!
There exists an information from the nursery of Dr. Hans Simon concerning the species which stated ' Felssteppe ' = rock steppe and 'trocken' = dry.
This is misleading because the plant is found in East Africa in wetland conditions.

I would be glad if you could tell something about the source of your plant?

Gerd

[hadacekf]

Gerd,
I a so sorry, I do not know exactly , from whom I got these plant. I think I got it from the Nursery Kress.
By the way I cultivated the plant more dry. I think my plant am dried. We had a very long frost period.

[Gerdk]

Franz, no reason to apologise!
We also had a long period below zero - the plant, growing in frozen soil/water at the edge of a small pond survived without showing any harm. In summer it sends runners which float on the surface of the water. A quite unusual and interesting alpine!

Gerd

[Lesley Cox]

It may be that my memory is letting me down - it wouldn't be the first time - but I'm reasonably sure this is the plant which I brought home from an English nursery around 30 years ago and within a couple of years it had covered an area of square metres and in the end had to be treated with Roundup. The roots were like leathery spaghetti and hard to get them all out but the rosettes multiplied with the abandon of the field thistle Circium arvense. Low of course.

[Gerdk]

Lesley,
Concerning the spreading habit and the description of the roots it seems you 'cultivated' this species - thanks god here in our conditions a little bit tamer.

Gerd

[Great Moravian]

Resembles Arctotis hirsuta alias Venidium hirsutum
http://www.aluka.org/action/showPDF?doi=10.5555/AL.AP.SPECIMEN.K000307347&type=img&pgs=
but differs. There are non-described Arctotis in Lesotho.

[ruweiss]

Haplocarpha rueppelli is not from Lesotho, but from the mountain regions around Mt.Kilimandscharo.
The plants from Lesotho are different, their name is H. nervosa. A group of Czech botanists collected
these plants some years ago and I was lucky to get one of these and it is fully hardy with me.
In Lesotho it forms extensive mats in marshy places up to 3000 m.

[Great Moravian]

Haplocarpha rueppelli is not from Lesotho, but from the mountain regions around Mt.Kilimandscharo.
The plants from Lesotho are different, their name is H. nervosa. A group of Czech botanists collected
these plants some years ago and I was lucky to get one of these and it is fully hardy with me.
In Lesotho it forms extensive mats in marshy places up to 3000 m.

The plant cultivated as Haplocarpha rueppellii is certainly not Haplocarpha rueppellii
but a completely different species and probably not a Haplocarpha at all.
Haplocarpha nervosa introduced by HKV expedition is a weedy nuisance.
If the herbarium specimen mentioned above is not sufficient evidence for you, check
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stationalpinejosephfourier/2055370592/
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TTHp7dAONscTqbzcih7YQw
In Haplocarpha rueppellii leaves are broad, without basal backwards oriented lobuli,
and midribs are not hairy. Forget about Kilimanjaro and tropical East Africa.
The cultivated plant is certainly a Drakensberg dweller.