Heuchera micans

[Maggi Young]

Eric, I have edited some posts and I hope this helps.

There is no question that the National Collection holder is part of a very successful nursery team. Their Gold Medal exhibits speak for that!

M

[Maggi Young]

I just tried entering Heuchera micans into the Plant Finder search.  It came up with a result for H. rubescens.... shown as offered by half a dozen nurseries.

I hope this link shows those:
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/pfregions.asp?ID=8718

When I get a minute I'm going to have a poke around the ir listings to see if there are any photos of the plants they are offering to see if they equate to the cute little "micans".... it may be that suppliers have already abandoned the "micans" label and that it may be possible to source this plant  mail order.
 Not hugely hopeful, I must say... but the show plants we've seen are so nice, it's worth a look.

 Eric, had you tried this route already?
 

[Maggi Young]

I just tried entering Heuchera micans into the Plant Finder search.  It came up with a result for H. rubescens.... shown as offered by half a dozen nurseries.

I hope this link shows those:
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/pfregions.asp?ID=8718

 Well, that didn't get me very far.
Some of the nurseries do not have  websites so no chance to read what they say about a plant or see a photo.
Some with websites have no actual list online, or photos.
Some are not actually listing the plant now.
None have photos.

Ah well, back to the drawing board!

[Palustris]

I did try this route and got to the same dead end as you. Main reason why I tried on here. The H. rubescens I have seen is not the same as this show plant. Fascinating, exploring the little lanes of plant names. Wonder if I should enquire about Allium daghestanicum then....................no I think I will pass on that one.

It is certainly a misnamed plant, but it does exist( the plant that is) and as such surely it deserves to be properly identified.
Thank-you once again for these valiant efforts. I have passed on the info so far to the interested party.

[Maggi Young]

I hope we can find a source in the end, Eric.... you've got me interested enough to fancy trying the plant.

 I have only got the snailmail contact for one of the exhibitors that I've found the name for... but I'm working on a  quicker contact  

 There remains the mystery of the origin of the name, of course........  but I'm sure there are others better able than I to track that.

[TheOnionMan]

Wonder if I should enquire about Allium daghestanicum then....................no I think I will pass on that one.

Palustris, there is a real Allium daghestanicum, I can post photos late tonight in the Allium topic when I get home from work.  Most often plants going around under this name are usurped by Allium senescens.

[TheOnionMan]

Aaron's previous suggestion is a good one. With living material (and flowers) it should be possible to key the plant in Flora of North America, why not start there?
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8396.msg226553#msg226553

[Grahame Ware]

Hi: I'm posting with the sounds of Madonna's "Virgin" ringing in my head! Not really....but I am posting here on the SRGC "for the very first time."

On the subject of H. micans, it is indeed elusive. I've found nothing so far.
Here's what I do know after rifling through my Heuchera boxes:
The only significant treatment of the genus heuchera was done during the Depression by a team of botanists led by Otto Rosendahl and assisted by Frederick Butters and Olga Lakela. They roamed over all of N America from Mexico to Vancouver Island and Georgia to Ontario conducting field studies. They also examined all the herbariums that contained the holotypes. Their enormous work resulted in, "A Monograph on the genus Heuchera", U of Minnesota Press, 1936.

Subsequent detailed work has been done in recent years by Drs. Elizabeth Wells and Barbara Shipes and can be found in the Flora of North America. Follow this link- http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=115382

Nowhere in either of these texts can one find reference to Heuchera micans or a synonymy involving that putative species.

This begs the question then, 'Where did this name arise?'

I'll stay on the trail and let you know.

Grahame

[Maggi Young]

Hi Grahame... hope we were gentle with you?!

Thanks for your help. 

[Afloden]

I concur with Mark If one does not know what they are looking at and there is a good dichotomous key, then start there. If it does not key and the origin of the plant is obscure it is likely a hybrid or mutant selection. Or, if one does have provenance the keying part should be simple. Since Heuchera is endemic to North America (including Meso-) and the FNA treatment is only 2 years old FNA is the best choice.

 Aaron

[Afloden]

But, Wells is wrong in the lumping of H. macrorhiza, villosa, and arkansana. I may even go so far as to say villosa var. intermedia is a good taxon! I grow all four and have explored the areas where the two overlap in Tennessee (only one site I can find where the two grow within a few miles of one another). and arkansana is so disjunct and also distinct in morphology.

 Now back to someones misreading of someones bad hand writing (my handwriting may have inadvertently renamed rivers, mountains, and plants ), H. "micans."

 Aaron

[Grahame Ware]

Aaron: I don't think that Wells is lumping she simply sees them (arkansas, mac., etc) as subspecies.
She's been on the Heuchera 'trail' for quite some time and seen many a specimen.

Check out her well researched piece, "A revision of the genus Heuchera in Eastern North America" in Systematic Botany Monographs Vol. 3, May 1984 for more insight as to locations of the subspecies you referred to.

Hope this helps.

Grahame

[Grahame Ware]

Hi: Just came a cross a printout from Wisley that was prepared for their trials of Heux in 1998.

They list it as Heuchera MICANS (all CAPS!).

Am pursuing this...
G

[Maggi Young]

MICANS .... Must I Change All Named Specimens ........Maybe Is Completely A-Nother Species.......  I could be here all day playing this game  

[Grahame Ware]

Maggi....
Maybe... maybe but you don't need to 'play this game' at all!
 

G