Alstroemeria philippiana on wiki

Diane Whitehead voltaire@islandnet.com
Mon, 10 May 2004 13:27:00 PDT
I have just added a picture of Alstroemeria philippiana to the wiki:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

I sowed 114 seeds of F & W 10575 last December in my warm dining 
room, and they surprised me by germinating in nine days.  They grew 
fast, sending long shoots along the window sill.  They are each over 
a metre long, and one has a single flower at the very end, 19 weeks 
from germination, 20 weeks from sowing.

Only a quarter to a third of the seeds seem to have germinated. The 
whole lot are in a single pot.  I moved them up to bigger pots a 
couple of times, expecting to separate them after they went dormant, 
but I never expected such speedy growth.

This is a desert plant, primed to grow fast as soon as it gets rained 
on, which is a rare occurrence in its home - Atacama/Coquimbo area, 
Coastal Semi-Mediterranean Desert Zone.

A lot of its leaves are drying.  I wonder what it will do after 
ripening its seed.  On the desert, would it die back, leaving its 
rhizomes waiting years for the next rainfall?  Or does it act 
essentially as an annual?

-- 
Diane Whitehead  Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8
cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually)
sandy soil


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