Chinese Maianthemum headache

[bulborum]

Because the old topic was 2 years old
and for so long as the name is Maianthemum
here some pictures of a Chinese beauty
Maianthemum szechuanicum

Roland

[bulborum]

Bought as Maianthemum fuscum

Roland

[arisaema]

Glad you reused the old title, they are still giving me identification headaches...

My chocolate one from NW Yunnan is looking rather delicious at the moment, it's twice as large as it was last summer, both in height and in number of shots. Still not completely sure of what it is, though. Also below; Smilacina henryi, it's nicely scented (like Platanthera bifolia).

[bulborum]

Looks most like Maianthemum atropurpureum
I am looking for this one sins a long time
bought it a few times from Chen Yi
but every time she send other plants
The last time Veratrum's

Roland

[bulborum]

Here some pictures from a maianthemum
125 cm tall
maybe M.tatsinense with nice orange berries
I will post later this summer the picture of the berry's

Roland

[mark smyth]

I must take a photo of my Maianthemum. It's supposed to be to be a new dwarf form

[shelagh]

We've been ripping it out by the handful it's a d****d nuisance.

[bulborum]

Which one

hopefully not the M. atropurpureum
would give me a sleepless night
I am searching sins many years for this one

Roland

[TheOnionMan]

Looks most like Maianthemum atropurpureum
I am looking for this one sins a long time
bought it a few times from Chen Yi
but every time she send other plants
The last time Veratrum's

Roland

I continue to wonder how Chen Yi stays in business... the only thing certain about such orders is that most species are misidentified, sometimes (as in your example here) even the genus is misidentified , perhaps the only thing certain is that one receives plants *collected* in China, and there's the hope that once such plants are obtained someone can deal with applying a correct identification.

[arisaema]

I continue to wonder how Chen Yi stays in business... the only thing certain about such orders is that most species are misidentified, sometimes (as in your example here) even the genus is misidentified , perhaps the only thing certain is that one receives plants *collected* in China, and there's the hope that once such plants are obtained someone can deal with applying a correct identification.

The chocolate Smilacina isn't from Chen Yi, but I have difficulties seeing how she could NOT stay in buisness - she's solely responsible for introducing hundreds of new species into horticulture, and her plants cost a fraction of what you'd have to pay here in the west (with them usually having been sourced from her anyway). Smilacinas certainly aren't threatened, they are harvested by the tons for use as vegetables; just as Polygonatum, Corydalis, Fritillaria and Epimedium (and many, many others) are harvested for use as medicine.

Roland;

I've already promised a piece of it to Aaron, but will hopefully be able to divide it again in a year or two. The headache involves another clone arriving in the same batch as the chocolate S. atropurpurea, they look quite different but both key out as that species.

[Pascal B]

Smilacinas certainly aren't threatened, they are harvested by the tons for use as vegetables; just as Polygonatum, Corydalis, Fritillaria and Epimedium (and many, many others) are harvested for use as medicine.

That doesn't say much because there is a difference between harvested (from the wild) and cultivated for use as medicine..... Some genera are, some genera are not. And it is not genera as a whole, it is in most cases specific species that are used for medicine. The plants that worry me are the plants that have only been available for 1-2 years from her because that suggests the place she found it has been stripped bare. And plants like Podophyllum versipelle are endangered in the wild because of medicine use (A preliminary study of genetic variation in the endangered,
Chinese endemic species Dysosma versipellis (Berberidaceae), Bot. Bull. Acad. Sin. (2005) 46:61-69) and if collecting for Western gardeners is added to that the impact can be severe.....

Some plants or genera can be bought from her without any serious impact on the natural populations, some are questionable but that last catagory contains many plants that we now all cherish and are glad they were introduced. If we all put a lot of effort in propagating and exchanging them we no longer need her for these plants. But let's face it, every species in cultivation at one point was collected in the wild. A collecting permit does not make it more legitimate, that is just a piece of paper written by a bureaucrat and only clears the conscience of some.....

[bulborum]

Here some pictures from Maianthemum henryi

some make really nice red stems or leave connections

Roland

[manicbotanic]

hi
bought this as mainanthemum oleraceum from edrom.
dont think it is oleraceum....?any ideas anyone.
its a nice plant anyway but its the same thing i bought off them
a few years ago as aff salvinii.

[bulborum]

It looks like Maianthemum purpureum
but I know this one only from pictures
with brown red leaves when they develop
maybe later they turn green as in many plants

see :  http://www.asianflora.com/Convallariaceae/Maianthemum-purpureum.htm

Roland

[arisaema]

manicbotanic;

I agree with bulborum, looks like S. purpurea. Edrom's plants are Indian, I think.

Another S. szechuanica below (I think).