Bomarea is a tuberous rooted genus related to Alstroemeria. Bomareas are in the Family Alstroemeriaceae, and both flowers and leaves demonstrate this close relationship. The beautiful flowers are produced in a dense umbel at the end of the growing shoots. Each umbel can be composed of as many as 30-45 flowers if well grown, with flowers consisting of three outer tepals and three inner, sometimes of contrasting colors. There are about 100 species, some of which are non-climbing, growing more like a ground cover, although the majority are climbers. They are found from Mexico on South, through the tropics and into the Andes, on down to Southern Chile, and are mostly plants of the forest understory, where they grow through adjacent vegetation in lightly shaded conditions. Some species are coastal, growing in the fog belt of Chile, so, not surprisingly they do very well in Coastal California. Information provided by Diana Chapman of Telos Rare Bulbs.
Bomarea acutifolia From Mexico and Costa Rica, this species is probably not as hardy as the others. The outer petals are deep red, the inner ones clear yellow deepening to orange-red without any spotting. The anthers are deep blue. Very vigorous, it grows to 15ft. Grown by Diana Chapman of Telos Rare Bulbs. Photos by Susan Hayek.
Bomarea caldasii This is an evergreen climbing species from Northern South America flowering in late spring / early summer. The first photo is from Rob Hamilton, the second from Susan Hayek of plants grown by Diana Chapman of Telos Rare Bulbs and the last shows a plant grown by David Victor in his greenhouse and flowering in February 2005.
Bomarea hirtella I grow this plant in my greenhouse and and in the first photo it is shown flowering in August 2005. Whilst it shows some similarities to the plant shown under B. kalbreyeri, it is only four feet or so tall and the flowers are rather smaller. Plant grown and photographed by David Victor. The second photograph was taken in-situ in July, 2006 in Donato Guerra district, Mexico State at around 2500 meters above sea level. This species grows wild in shaded conditions with lots of humus around its roots in humid cloud-forests. Distribution ranges from Tamaulipas to Chiapas along the gulf coast and from Jalisco to Chiapas along the Pacific coast. Photo by Dennis Szeszko
Bomarea kalbreyeri A picture of a plant that I grow under this name and is here shown flowering in December. This is a vigorous, climbing plant that grows up to ten feet or so. I have read elsewhere that B. kalbreyeri is a synonym of B. caldasii. However, it is not clear to me that this is the same plant as the photo of B. caldasii that I have loaded under that name. If anyone can resolve that conflict, I would be pleased to hear from them. Plant grown and photographed by David Victor
Bomarea patacoensis From Colombia and Peru. The outer petals are scarlet with inner petals that open yellow and turn to deep red spotted heavily with darker red. Grows 8-12ft. Grown by Diana Chapman of Telos Rare Bulbs. Photo by Susan Hayek.
Bomarea petraea From Peru. A smaller Bomarea, only growing to about four feet tall producing dense clusters of orange-red flowers, the inner petals marked with maroon. Grown by Diana Chapman of Telos Rare Bulbs. Photo by Susan Hayek.
Bomarea salsilla A deciduous climbing species from Chile flowering in late spring /early summer . The first photo was taken by Rob Hamilton, the second by Bob Rutemoeller in Harry Hay's gardens, and the third taken by David Victor of a plant growing in his greenhouse and flowering in May 2005. The fourth photo taken by Mary Sue Ittner of storage organ's during dormancy on a 1 cm. square grid
Bomarea spp. Photos by Susan Hayek of several grown by Diana Chapman, Telos Rare Bulbs.
The first photo by Mary Sue Ittner of a Bomarea flowering in May in Sandy Scott's Northern California garden. The plant tag did not have a species name on it. Any ideas? The second photo by Liz Waterman of a plant from Diana Chapman,Telos Rare Bulbs. It's about 15 feet up my Jacaranda so I can't get a good closeup. The last photo by Nhu Nguyen showing the roots.
