Alstroemeria identification

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Fri, 20 Jun 2003 08:33:09 PDT
With much patient help from Mary Sue Ittner, I have put a photo on the wiki 
of an Alstroemeria I have here, which I hope someone can help me identify. 
I just found a copy of the 1987 monograph of the genus ("Die Gattung 
Alstroemeria") on line from Koeltz, a scientific books source in Germany, 
and ordered it ($80 US, yikes), so eventually I'll be able to do this 
myself, I hope.

See the image at

>http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…
>
>or
>
>http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…

I called it "linear" because it is one of two unidentified ones I have with 
linear leaves. The leaves are grayish, and there are long (not scale-like) 
leaves on the flowering stems as well as the non-flowering ones. I grew it 
from Watson's seed received as A. versicolor, but that species is 
consistently described in the literature I presently have as having yellow 
to orange flowers. Possibly the similarity in foliage caused the mix-up, or 
the seeds just got mixed up during packing, etc.; I have another, 
winter-flowering species mixed in with the A. hookeri grown from the same 
source.

This is a fairly small plant but quite vigorous in the bulb frame, where it 
has exhibited no damage from temperatures down to 25 F (about minus 4 C). 
I'll try it in the open rock garden soon. It would be a good choice for a 
low-level border perennial in warmer climates, though it might well spread 
too much for some people. The foliage is attractive in late winter and 
spring but is withering by flowering time.

Mary Sue helped me by reducing the size of this file so it would go on the 
wiki. If I ever find something on my new system that will do this, I will 
post some more photos including alstros in the wild.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon


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