Crinum 2011

[jshields]

Does this species have a good scent Jim?

I don't know -- 70+ years of allergies and 40 years as a bench chemist pretty much wiped out my sense of smell years ago.

Jim

[Alessandro.marinello]

This is a hybrid

[Maggi Young]

The way the colour of the outer stripe is reflected in the stamens and style is  very neat. Smart "design" !!

[jshields]

Most attractive!  Rich rose on pale pink.

Jim

[jshields]

Time to report back on self-pollinating Crinum razafindratsiraea:  no seeds.  None at all. 

Selfing C. lugardiae produced about 4 or 5 seeds that don't look very healthy, so I just stuck them into the soil in the same pot with their mother.  Unlike razafindratsiraea, I have several clones of lugardiae and I can try next year if I pay more attention to my crinums.  And if I get them repotted this winter; they are languishing from neglect, I fear.

And then, there is one bud on one pot of Crinum carlo-schmidtii.  We'll see what happens there, too.

Jim

[Roma]

I noticed this Crinum with a flower still on it when I was at the Cruickshank Botanic Garden in Aberdeen for the late plant sale last Saturday.  I thought some of you might be interested.  It is an enormous plant and has been in that position for over 30 years.

[jshields]

It could easily be a hybrid, but it looks rather like Crinum moorei, which is a late-bloomer.  Very nice!

Jim

[Maggi Young]

 Seeing the Cruickshank plant reminds me that Mike and Polly Stone had a HUGE clump of Crinum ( which I think was C. moorei) at Askival.... it flowered very well. Wonder if it is still there? Must ask John Owen!

[Ezeiza]

JIm, looks like a very battered clump of the pink x powellii.  Maybe an elephant spend the night  on it.

[Maggi Young]

I don't think there are too many elephants in the Cruickshank Botanic Garden 


Now that I think about it, the large plants at Askival may well have been C. x powellii.

Here's a Crinum postage stamp with an Irish connection ( the Stones live in Ireland now!)

[jshields]

I'll buy the x-powellii diagnosis.  Moorei's most distinctive characteristic seems to be the pseudo-stem the leaf bases make.  I don't really see pseudostems in the photos.  The main argument against x-powellii would be that the flower looks fairly attractive in the picture, while all the pink powellii I  grow really look pretty wretched in bloom.

Jim

[Roma]

I don't know much about Crinums so haven't a clue about the ID.  I found a couple of pics I took on May 5th. I cropped the second to show what I think are pseudostems.  They look like long bulb necks.  The photo is taken from above so their length is not obvious. 

[Ezeiza]

The detail of a red edge to the foliage is curious.

[jshields]

Moorei prefers shade, so too much sun could account for some defensive anthocyanin in the leaves.

Jim

[majallison]

Moorei prefers shade, so too much sun could account for some defensive anthocyanin in the leaves.

Jim

Too much sun in Aberdeen seems unlikely; it's about the same latitude as Moscow.