Wachendorfia

johngrimshaw@tiscali.co.uk johngrimshaw@tiscali.co.uk
Mon, 06 Jun 2005 23:23:09 PDT
Sadly, Wachendorfia thyrsiflora is not hardy in the UK (except possibly in
the mildest parts of the south-west) so we are denied the pleasure.

Does anyone grow any other Wachendorfia species? Many are smaller and
actually rather more attractive than the big, rather coarse, W. thyrsiflora.
I think in particular of W. brachyandra from the west coast north of Cape
Town. It is no more than 30 cm high, with branched inflorescences carrying
large flowers of a soft apricot shade with a contrasting 'eye'. I have a
picture of it that could be posted, if someone would instruct me how to do
this!

Bill Richardson asked where Martyn Rix (or anyone else) would get
information about the number of species in a genus. The most handy source is
David Mabberley's The Plant-book, which packs a vast amount of information
into a small volume. On the subject of South African plants, a very useful
summary of genera and their characters is given by O.A. Leistner (ed.)
(2000), Seed plants of southern Africa, families and genera. He says that
Wachendorfia has 4 species.

John Grimshaw

Dr John M. Grimshaw
Garden Manager, Colesbourne Gardens

Sycamore Cottage
Colesbourne
Nr Cheltenham
Gloucestershire GL53 9NP

Website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/
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