mystery baby bulbs

Judy Glattstein jglatt@ptd.net
Sat, 06 Sep 2003 14:35:13 PDT
So here I am on a nice sunny day top-dressing bulb pots in the greenhouse.
As I'm scooping off the played-out dirt from a pot of Lycoris aurea (and
they do work their way down to the bottom, don't they!) I'm finding all
these baby bulbs. No, not offsets from the lycoris.  About the size of a
large pea, and just as round as a pea, with a tiny little, just barely
noticeable point or tip at the top (and a rather similar bump at the
bottom.) Very firm, not in the least soft or flabby. The tunic (I didn't
scrape or scratch but it looks like a covering) is a dull gray on most of
them. A couple are whitish, and one had a rose-pink spot. There were 42 of
them, so clearly they are the progeny of some bulb that reproduces quite
easily. Of course I didn't discard them - they are now nicely lined out in a
half-flat with a label that has a big "?" for identification.

I'm sure they're not cyclamen or freesias. There were pots of various
lachenalia in the same general bench area, also nerines, rhodophiala,
veltheimia. But none of those seem quite right. Allium neapolitanum? I hope
not, one pot is sufficient. To continue the quandary, the adjacent pot of
Lycoris albiflora had no little visitors, nor did any other pot I was
messing around with.

Anyone care to make a guess - informed, educated, or just a random stab - at
what they might be? If you are correct - and who knows when they might
bloom - I'll give you some. In fact, there are enough that next year I may
just send some to the BX. Are unknowns allowed as BX material?

TIA.

Judy




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