Clivia mirabilis. Was: Commercial sales of protected plants

J.E. Shields jshields@indy.net
Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:46:52 PST
The new and rare Clivia species, C. mirabilis, is being propagated at 
Kirstenbosch and distributed through their greenhouse.  It is not listed in 
CITES yet so far as I know, because I imported a few Kirstenbosch seedling 
plants of mirabilis in 2006.  The availability of these plants was not 
widely advertised, since there are relatively few in cultivation.  I think 
that part of the sales income goes to the Northern Cape provincial 
department of conservation.

There are only two known locations for C. mirabilis so far as I know.  The 
original colony is in the Northern Cape Province in Oorlogskloof Nature 
Reserve in the Bokkeveld Mountains.  The Northern Cape Province has put 
severe limitation on access to that colony.

The second colony is on a privately owned farm a few miles away, also in 
the Bokkeveld Mountains, but in the Western Cape Province.  The Western 
Cape government had not, the last I heard, placed limits on what could be 
done with the plants found on private land.  The farmer is propagating from 
his colony, mainly by seed I think.  He did move a couple mature plants 
from the mountainside to his garden, where they seem to be doing well.

They had barred visitors from Oorlogskloof when I was there in 2006; but as 
part of a group of Clivia enthusiasts, I did visit the farmer and the wild 
colony on his mountainside.  The plants were in bud when I visited, and 
they bloomed the week after I left!  This is described in my 2006 South 
Africa blog at:
http://shieldsgardens.com/Blogs/SouthAfrica/…
under the date 25 September 2006.

Best wishes,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana (USA)


At 04:41 PM 12/21/2007 -0800, you wrote:
>I know this was done to protect two newly-discovered plants, a new
>species of Clivia in South Africa, and a new conifer in Australia.
>
>I haven't seen the clivia for sale, but the Wollemi pine has been
>bought by friends of mine for a bit over $100.
>
>Diane

*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5             Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344     or      toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA



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