Micranthus junceus

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

Can anyone help with identifying this plant that has appeared in my crocus garden?  It is flowering after everything else has gone dormant (we're 10 days into summer officially) and I don't recall seeing it before.  I can't remember whether it was there last year or not, but I am certain it has not flowered for me before, not can I recall ever flowering anything quite like it before.  I'm assuming that it was in recycled potting mix when I built the garden a few years ago, and has only got to flowering size now, so I've sown seed of it at some point I assume and never had any success with it until now.  The flowers in the pic are mainly using flash as it was getting dark when I happened to walk by the crocus garden and notice it in flower.  I'd see the leaves there and wondered what it was last week, but the flower stem was definitely not obviously a flower stem at the time I think.  The flowers are maybe 1cm wide and the buds are all perfectly arranged up each side of the stem, opening from the bottom.  The whole plant is just under 25cm in height.  The flower colour is most accurate I think in the picture without the flash, which is why I included that one.  The leaves are terete and apparently hollow.  There are two separate leaves emerging from the soil surface and then a third leaf which clasps the flower stem just above ground level. (as an observation, the two separate leaves are also in the same line as the buds on the stem).  I am assuming (perhaps incorrectly) by the look of it that it might be a corm or bulb of some description, but I haven't investigated to find out.  The baskets in the crocus garden need repotting this year (badly) so I will find out in the next couple of months I guess.

Any ideas anyone?  I'm hoping that someone just looks at it and it is obvious to them, because it isn't something I have ever flowered here before.  I'm half expecting to say "I should have thought of that" when I read the answer.    It's ringing bells, but not loud enough to work out what it is.  

Thanks for any help.

[ranunculus]

The first two images shouted a thelymitra species, but the final two images didn't! 

[Paul T]

Cliff,

You're spot on for colouration, but I don't think it can be an orchid as it has 3 stamens covered in blue pollen (matches the rest of the flower..... nice to see that the interior designers have been in agreement  ) while I think most Orchidaceae have pollinia don't they? 

The flower reminds me a lot of some sort of Ixia, or close relative at the very least.  It does have similarities to some of them, but the flowers are almost more scilla-like individually?  Almost.   

Thanks heaps for the response. 

[David Nicholson]

On first sight it looked Ixia-like to me too Paul

[shelagh]

Terrific flower stem whatever it is and probably a pleasant surprise, but not in a crocus bed.

[Paul T]

Shelagh,

My "crocus bed" is a loose term, it contains far more than crocus.

I sent the pics to the Australian Bulb Association list and have an identity of Micranthus junceus supplied.  Googling confirms that this is it.  I now have absolutely NO idea where the heck it came from!!! 

[Maren]

Hi, your Micranthus junceus looks very attractive. The google pics indicate that it will grow into quite a substantial plant. Perhaps you should make a new crocus bed elsewhere 

[daveyp1970]

Paul if your plant sets seed could i possibly puts dibs on a pinch.

[Diane Whitehead]

The pictures in The Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs didn't excite
me, so I've never bought seed of it.  Your pictures have changed my
mind.

Here is what the book says:  Combflowers have attracted little attention
from gardeners .... deserve serious consideration as an interplanting
among spring-flowering bulbs because of their late flowering .... very
attractive to butterflies  ...... cormels in leaf axils .... main corms
fragment into several each year.  M junceus favors seasonal marshes.

[Paul T]

Davey,

I'll see what I can do.

Diane,

Thanks for the extra information.  I'm guessing from google pics that this species will get somewhat larger than the 25cm it currently is growing to?  You mention the seasonal marshes.... does that mean that it requires the summer drought?  If it IS going to get larger I am definitely going to have to move it, which is why I am trying to work out where to move it to.  I am developing a bog garden so I might try some in there if it splits.  The comment about the splitting of the main corms makes me wonder whether they then will flower, or whether they take another year to come back to flowering size.  Thanks so much for taking the time to type this in for me, very valuable info.

I'm definitely starting to get more excited about this little volunteer of mine.  

[Lesley Cox]

It's quite lovely Paul and you should be encouraging it. The "unknown thingys" that appear in my garden are always another creeping epilobium or something equally boring and potentially viciously weedy.

[Diane Whitehead]

25 to 45 cm high.

"favor damper, sandy or gritty soils and are conspicuously communal"

So it's going to be a clump.

The book says it "should thrive in a rock garden".  No mention of any
special conditions needed.

It doesn't sound as though it needs drought.  It's from the SW Cape
which is a winter rainfall area, so it's not going to be very wet in summer.

The other two species, alopecuroides and tubulosus grow on heavy clay.
Tubulosus is scented.

[Paul T]

Thanks Diane for the extra info.  So it will probably get a little taller, but not a lot.  It will be nice if it clumps, so that I can do some experimenting.

Thanks again for all the help offered.

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

I've taken more pics of this as it progressed, but haven't uploaded them as yet.  It looks like it could be setting seed too, Diane, if you'd like some if they mature?

[Paul T]

Here's a couple more pics of the Micranthus junceus, kept together here in case anyone is searching on it and find them of use.